A Fox in Fields of Snow
by Dead at heart
Summary: And so I got stuck on a stupid ass bus to a stupid ass school. I'm not giving up cigarettes and I'm not gonna wear their uniform. But there is a certain purple haired girl that's got my eye. I just hope she likes blonde hair and whisker marks.
1. High School?

**A/N: Hello all. I know I have a pretty stunning track record for starting stories and abandoning them, and that's my problem- not yours. Let it be known that I am a college student that is about to be on winter break and I have recently quit smoking, so I'll fly into a rage given half the chance. This is a Rosario+Vampire crossover, because I can't write a story without more than one fandom involved. The main pairing is pretty self-explanatory. Naruto is fifteen in this story, entering the academy as a freshman. It also makes his habit illegal. **

_P.O.V. designation/thought_

Speech, description, dialog.

**Biiju/ Enraged Yōkai**

Chapter One:

**High School?**

_Naruto:_ Baa-Chan and the Pervert called me in this morning to deliver some strange news. I sat down in front of her desk, and as usual she poured herself a bowl of sake. The view out of the bay window behind her was as majestic ever, with the Hokage monument to the left and the city that I so loved sprawling below. Jiraiya was sitting at her right in an old wooden chair.

The most lecherous of us took the lead that morning. "So, kid, how would you like to master your… tenant?" white hair slipping in front of his face as he talked. I took the chance to expose the habit that I'd recently picked up from the lazy savant's example, and put a cigarette to my lips. Striking a match and inhaling deeply, I waited for the telltale burn in my lungs to take hold and let me know that the plant was working.

"What's your plan?" I said, around the cancer-stick. Clouds of smoke escaped from my mouth as I spoke. Baa-chan looked at me with contempt.

"Naruto, please don't tell me you've picked up that disgusting habit."

"Is it as bad as drinking yourself stupid on a daily basis?" she gave me a glare that could kill a horse. Sighed deeply, and ran her hand through her hair.

"I suppose not, and it's not like you're going to need to worry about your lifespan much longer anyways," She snaps her gaze over to the peeping tom and asks "Are you sure about this Jiraiya?"

"What does he need to be sure about exactly?"

"Kid, you know how I trained in a different world to learn senjutsu, and stayed there for quite a while before I mastered it?"

"Yes."

"Well, another world has sent out looking for a person to fill the position of Hades Lord in this realm. Because none of us around here can claim to be monsters, we can't offer ourselves up to the position. You, however, are special. You have a Biiju sealed into your body. If you go to this world to train and learn to control your monstrous side, you would be in a position far greater than Hokage."

"Hades Lord does sound a lot more bad ass. What do I gotta do?"

"You have to attend the school in said world until you graduate, where you'll be trained to control and master monstrous energy."

"Wait, wait, wait. School? As in, like, the ninja academy?" Tsunade shakes her head

"No, Naruto. Yōkai Academy is a school made by, run by, and for monsters and monster-kin. It's run like a normal civilian highschool, dedicated to teaching monsters how to master their powers and co-exist with humans."

"So," I flick ash off of my cigarette "What you're saying," I drag long, and hard "is that I have to attend a fucking high school, with all the boy drama, cheerleader letter man bullshit," I drag again "and behave like a normal high schooler would?" She nods

"Not a snowballs chance in hell." Jiraiya laughs.

"Kid, have I ever told you that your change in attitude after the retrieval mission was amazing? You're the perfect bad boy for Yōkai." I glared at him a little, but had to accept that what he was saying did, in fact, have merit. I had changed. Not ninja sandals, but combat boots. No orange jumpsuit, but a pair of loose black jeans, a long sleeved red thermal and a black hoodie, with the leaf symbol at the ears. My headband around my neck, and a tattoo on my right wrist. A typography piece that my long time friend and surrogate older sister Anko drew. _Rise and rise again, until lambs become lions. _Funny story about that tattoo. It came out of a bet I made with her while I was drunk. Bet her she couldn't describe me in less than ten words.

Good times. I looked from my tattoo, a little cursive ordeal with tight calligraphy back to Baa-Chan. She had _that _ look on her face. "No. Oh no. No, no, no, no. I refuse. I won't."

"I'm making this a mandatory mission, Naruto. _You will_."

"And that's how I wound up on this stupid fucking bus, with your creepy cigar smokin' ass driving me to school." I look over to the bus driver, and see he's still holding a smoldering cigar. I light up, despite Baa-chan telling me it's illegal in this world.

If that motherfucker can smoke, I'm gonna goddamn smoke.

"Heh. You should give the academy a chance kid. You never know, you might make some friends. So. You're a Pall Mall man?"

I drag "Yeah. Menthols. I'm a pansy."

"To each their own. You're only fifteen anyways, so the fact you're smoking anything shows you have guts. You must be one hell of a delinquent."

I look back fondly, on the time I painted the Hokage monument in kabuki make up. "Oh, yeah man. Oh yeah." I hear the brakes hiss, and we stop on a cliffside outside of some really nasty looking woods. There's a scarecrow planted at the cliff junction, with a pumpkin on its head. Next to it is a blue-haired girl. She seems to be crying, and she's surrounded by ice.

"Better work hard here. You're arriving mid term. And be careful, things at Yōkai aren't always what they seem." The bus doors open and a burst of cold air rushes in.

"Holy shit, it's fucking cold here." I'm used to fire country's civilized 96-102.

"Your blood'll thicken up, kid. That little lady looks like she could use some help." I put my cigarette to my lips, flip up my hood and start walking towards her.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." As I get closer, I see faces in the ice, and I hear moaning coming from them

"_Aloooone, so alone…" _

"_He would never love yooou…" _

"Well this is corny." I get even closer to the blue-haired girl, and I notice for the first time that_ she is a bombshell_. Lithe and fit, with legs that go on forever, and her mouth wrapped around a sucker. She has purple and lavender striped stockings and she's wearing a skimpy skirt, with a loose fitting longsleeved T-shirt.

Daddy likey. She looks up, and sniffles. "Who're you?"

"Room for two in this pity party, or what?" she glares daggers at me.

"You're just like the last guy. I'm getting punished for defending myself and now I have to do it all over again." Her voice is cold and emotionless, but expressive at the same time.

Aloof, that's the word for it. "I'm not here to hurt you. Just wondering what all this," I gesture to the ice "is about."

"I still don't know your name."

"Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki, I'm new to, uh, Yōkai haven place or whatever."

She smiles a little "See, now, that wasn't so hard! Now tell me…"

"Mizore. Mizore Shirayuki."

"Mizore Shirayuki, what exactly is this all about?" She looks at me and sighs.

"Have you ever felt… No, who am I kidding, there's no way you have. You've got that personality that people are drawn to. You probably never had a hard time making friends."

_Oh. Shit I know that face._

I crouch down, and look at her eye to eye. "Oh, yeah, I know that look." She stares at me "Like looking in a mirror."

"How could you know?" I squint at her. _Should I? Fuck why shouldn't I?_

"Wanna know a secret?" I lift up my shirt, and focus Chakra into my stomach. The fourth's seal appears there. She gasps

"What… What is that?"

"That, Mizore, is a quadruple tetragram seal. My father designed it, to seal a demon into my stomach. Dad's dead, and mom died in childbirth. On top of that, most of the people in my homeland couldn't grasp the difference between the demon, who committed awful acts, and the six year old boy that didn't have a mommy or a daddy." She looked at me in silence, and I could hear the ice around us crackling.

I pulled up my left sleeve and pointed to a large scar on my wrist "First suicide attempt, eighth birthday."

I pull down my shirt's collar, exposing the skin just below my clavicle, which has several puckered and dented areas "Assassination attempt, October 27, of my second year in the academy. I was ten."

I pull up my shirt again, and expose the junction between my stomach and my ribcage. There's a large slash there, it's still slightly red. It's a fresh scar.

" My best friend did this to me, three weeks ago." She gasps.

"Some best friend, huh?" I take one of her hands "Point is, Mizore, I'm kind of an expert at knowing what feeling alone is all about. I'll be your friend. If you'll have me?" She looks at me, and the ice crashes. She clasps on to me, and I almost fall over. "Whoa-shi-"

"I'm scared, Naruto."

"Crazy ice user lady like you? What've you got to be afraid of? I fought an ice user once. She kicked my ass." She smiles slightly. I notice that she smells like cherry popsicles.

"I was trying to get a guy to fall in love with me, and he turned me down. One of the gym teachers saw me trying to deal with the rejection and attempted to take advantage of me. He's in a coma and they're talking about expelling me." I look at her again. _Hot, Check. Smells nice, Check. _Terrifying_, Check._

"Remind me not to piss you off," I pull out a cigarette. And roll it between my forefinger and thumb a little considering. On the one hand, she needs to relax. On the other hand, these things are fuck all addictive. Well, shit, what's the harm? I am supposed to be the bad boy in this place, after all. I pull out the windproof lighter that Shikamaru had given me as a parting gift. "Mizore, close your eyes." She does so. I part her lips a little and place the cigarette, it hangs there without falling out.

"What are you doing?" she says around the cigarette. I flick the lighter and put the flame up next to the cancer-stick.

"Take a deep breath." She does so, the cigarette lights and she opens her eyes surprised. She takes the smoke out of her mouth and starts to cough.

I take a drag off of mine. "It gets easier with practice. Try to hold it in as long as you can. The nicotine will help you relax."

"I shouldn't be doing this…"

"If you don't want to, that's fine. Just hand me the smoke and I'll smoke them both. It was just the only thing I could think of that might take the edge off." She looks at me.

"Why do you smoke?"

"'Cause I'm an idiot. Why did you start smoking?" I look at her, and give her my best Cheshire grin.

"Because you made me." She takes another drag, and holds it in slightly longer, then releases it with a spatter of hiccup-coughs.

"It just takes practice. I honestly didn't get it all the way down until my fifth cigarette. Try not to swallow while you have smoke in your lungs, though. You'll puke." My cig hits the filter, so I throw the butt over the cliff and light another.

"It's nice to know that my first friend in this place smokes like a chimney with a burning lust for cancer." At this point I notice four people running up to us.

"MIZORE!"

I look at her "You know these guys?" I take a drag.

"Yeah. The guy in front is the guy that rejected me." There's a dude with brown hair and eyes in the stupid green school uniform they sent me running at us. Behind him there's a pink haired chick with green eyes and a huge cross choker, a little girl in a witch costume and a blue haired girl with tits the size of boulders.

"Why'd you go after a dude who's being followed by a walking fetish porno?"

"He writes for the school newspaper. The point of view in his articles was really lonely, and I related to it really well. Kind of fell for him that way." She flicks ash off her cigarette and inhales deeply, then holds.

This girl is better at smoking than I am.

Brown haired boy finally reaches us. "Mizore, I… Who's this?"

"This is Naruto, Tsukune. He's new to Yōkai, and he'll be joining the newspaper club with me." Smoke exudes from her mouth as she speaks.

"I will?" I look at her and she nods. She takes another drag. "A'ight."

Brown hair looks dumbfounded. "You smoke?"

"There's a lot you don't know about me Tsukune." He rubs the back of his head with his hand and laughs

"I guess so. I just wanted to apologize. Gin caught the bastard in the act, on film. Me assuming you attacked him wasn't fair."

"We've got a saying in Konoha. 'Look underneath the underneath'." I look at him, and take drag "You shouldn't reach a conclusion until you've gathered as much information as you possibly can. _Especially _if you're a reporter for the school news, it'll save your life." He laughs again

"I guess so." I stand up and look around, noticing that every girl near this dude is beautiful. And that they've only got eyes for him.

"You've got a kind heart, don't you Tsukune?" he looks at me, surprised

"I don't know about that..."

"Tsukune is the nicest, desu!" witch-girl says. The other two nod along with her.

"Thought so," I put a hand on his shoulder "It may not seem like the easiest decision right now, but I can see it in the way they look at you. All three of these girls are interested in you as more than a friend, Tsukune. Stringing them along and not making a decision is selfish, it'll keep them from finding happiness."

Blue-haired girl scoffs at me. "Where do you get off being all wise and holier-than-thou? You're standing here smoking – which is _illegal_, by the way – and you've got Mizore doing it too! You're nothing but a bad influence!"

"Look… uh…"

"Kurumu. Kurumu Kurono."

"Look, Kumuru, where I come from, with the career path I've chosen, life is harsh and short. Ninja are lucky to make it past twenty-five with all of their bodily functions in tact. One of my best friends sleeps with anything that has a penis, both of my teachers can't stop looking at porn and the leader of my homeland is a raging alcoholic. I learn lessons and take pleasures where I can get them, and as fast as I can. My profession won't allow anything else."

She looks at me with doubt in her eyes "What kind of society would have a career path with such a short life expectancy?"

I put out my cigarette on the ground. "Fine, you wanna know what makes my profession so goddamn risky? All of you follow me." I start walking toward the nearest tree. When I get there, I form a rasengan and look at it. The blue glow brings back a memory of the first time I formed one without a shadow clone.

"what's so special about that?" Pink haired girl asks

"Well Sakura 2, this little sphere here contains all the force and destructive power of a typhoon."

"Sakura 2?" she asks, "My name is Moka."

"Sorry, you just look a lot like a girl I know back home." I push the sphere into the tree, and it explodes. Everyone gasps

"Where I come from, every mediocre ninja has an ability that powerful or even more so. The balance of power is fragile, and we constantly fight for land and resources. Expert ninja know plenty of these abilities, but rookies who aren't on their guard end up like that tree. When I was back home, I could have died at any time – be it on a high level escort or a routine patrol gone to shit. I've seen people die, and I've killed my fair share. It's never easy and it's never pretty, but it's taught me a lot." They just stare at me for a little bit. Then Tsukune speaks up.

"Then it's settled! You'll write the advice column!"

_Aw, a second._

"Can I name it?"

"I, erm, what would you like to call it? I'm not the editor, so you'll have to take it up with Gin"

"_Naruto's tips for not Fucking up Your Life." _Mizore snorts.

"I'd read it."

"Me too! It sounds like Naruto would be good at giving advice! Desu!" I point at Kurumu

"Kurumu." She nods

To Moka "Moka." She nods as well

To Tsukune "Tsukune." He nods

"So who's the midget?" everyone but Mizore slaps their palms to their foreheads.

"My name is Yukari!"

"You are every lolicon's dream, Yukari." Mizore snorts, and everyone else just sort of hangs their heads.

Mizore takes my arm, and starts to pull me along. "Come on!" She giggles. It could be my imagination, but I think I'm starting to like this girl. We go to the cafeteria, and all of us grab some food and get to know each other. The place is big, with two tiers of seats and a lot of windows. There's a wide selection of really good food.

Moka's from a massively rich family, but left for the human world to find her mom.

Kurumu is from just outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. Wherever the fuck that is.

Yukari actually skipped three years f school, and she's a true-blooded witch.

I have no doubt in my mind that Tsukune us actually a human.

Mizore is from the Himalayas, her favorite food is mint chocolate chip ice cream, and her birthday is…

Shut up, I like her.

When that was done I walked with Tsukune and the girls back to the girls dorm. Mizore took my arm again, and I noticed that Kurumu and Moka each took one of Tsukune's arms. They all went inside, and Tsukune and I were off for the men's dorm.

While we were on our way, I pulled up the subject of his race. "So, Tsukune, you're a human, right?" He looks at me, stricken and scared.

"Don't worry dude, your secret's safe with me. If anything, I'm asking because I want to make sure you stay safe for Moka and Kurumu." He squints his eyes. "I'm serious, man. They find out you die, I can make it so you'll at least _look_ like a monster."

He shakes a little "how?"

"It's simple. All we have to do is unlock your Chakra."


	2. Quitting

**A/N: So I started work on chapter two as fast as humanly possible, because I really like the way this story is shaping up. I have one reviewer that I need to respond to publicly (Because they were anonymous)**

**Here's to you, Mesojoe: I chose to have Mizore smoke because it helps her bond with Naruto, and as per the title, genre, and obvious way that Naruto **_**looks at her**_** they are the main pairing. I do realize that the Manga is a better thing to source from; I however do not have the funds or the time to read it (being in college and all). Naruto's attitude and the fact that he told her about the Kyūbi will be explained in time, but for now, suffice it to say that he sort of broke after the retrieval arc in part two. It leads to some major changes in his demeanor as he recovers. And I will say **_**this**_** once and for all, the characters are going to change in personality – they have to, because writing from the perspective that I do makes it necessary that I can have some grasp on what they're feeling. It's one of the limits placed on first person perspective. All will be explained in time. I got a complaint about the focus on cigarettes last chapter, which is explained this chapter as well (also I was two days off cigarettes so they were pretty much all I could think about). There's only so much a man can say in three thousand words, but for anyone that has a doubt that this is the "real Naruto" I invite you to look up the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, which he suffers from in this story, I was also struck by an idea while writing this and decided to roll with it. Tell me what you think!**

**There are two songs in this chapter – **_**Cinema,**_** by Iko, as well as their song **_**Hologram**_**, in that order - I recommend playing them when it gets to those parts. If you don't have **_**Spotify**_** I'd recommend getting it, otherwise the songs are rather hard to find.**

**Now, let's get to it shall we? – **_**Dead!**_

_P.O.V./thought/emphasis_

_**Biiju/ Enraged Yōkai/Memory display**_

Story-telling/dialogue

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

Chapter 2:

**Quitting. (Winter Formal). **

_**Naruto**__: _The first day of class went off with out any real hitch. I stood in front of the room, and my teacher Ms. Nekonome introduced me to my fellow students. The classroom had around six rows of seats, and I was in the middle row, pretty much in the exact middle of the classroom. We spent the day going over science, math, literature, blah, blah, blah. Honestly I just slept through most of it. Though some laughter did ensue when she asked me where my uniform was. I guess we'll start there.

"Naruto, where's your uniform at?"

"I didn't like the way it looked, so I set it on fire before I came here." I put my head back down on my desk. Static. Heart beat. Heart beating faster.

Fuck, I'm having a flashback, aren't I?

Suddenly I'm back in that crater of a base in the land of rice. Sasuke is standing over Sakura and I in white robes, a smirk playing on his lips. "Hello, Naruto. It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

I growl. "Shut up, asshole."

"Why are you talking to me like that?" I'm back in the classroom, is looking at me, with her cat ears cast downward and her face twisted in sadness. The whole class is staring at me like I'm insane.

I don't think they're that far off. "I'm sorry, Ms. Nekonome… my mind was somewhere else. I, er… please accept my apology" Mizore speaks up from her seat behind mine

"You alright, Naruto?" I smile a little. Nod.

"I could use some food but I'm fine otherwise." The class murmurs and I sit back down, drenched in a cold sweat. A few hours later, the bell rings, signifying the end of the school day, and Ms. Nekonome approaches me.

"Naruto, I've heard you're joining the newspaper club. I just wanted to make sure that everything was alright. The way you lashed out in class today was very unsettling." She mewls.

"I, uh. Some bad stuff happened a few months ago, back home. According to my doctor, I've got P.T.S.D." her eyes widen and Mizore stands up next to me.

"He'll be fine, Ms. Nekonome, he's just dealt with a lot." presses her index fingers together, a lot like Hinata back home.

"Well, okay, but try to take it easy, alright? I don't want to see you go crazy." It's against my will, but I'm beginning to like this place. I could make some changes here, and I do feel like I've got back up.

"Yeah, Ms. Nekonome, I will. I'm sorry about earlier." She shakes her head

"It was out of your control, don't worry about it," makes her way towards the door "You kids have fun in Newspaper Club, okay? Gin should be here soon!" and with that, she leaves. I sit back in a desk and kick my feet up in front of me. Tsukune walks up to the front of the room, behind a desk and in front of the chalkboard.

"Alright guys, there are a few issues we need to take care of. First things first, the winter formal is coming up. Who wants to write that article? Keep in mind, you can still take a date and dance, you just need to take a few pictures and write about your experience. Any takers?" Not a chance in hell. I might not even go.

"I'll write about my date with you Tsukune! Yahoo!"

"Are you sure you don't wanna go with me Kurumu?" A deep voice asks. I see a man stepping in to the room. He's got black hair and a headband, and a silver wolf-head necklace. "And who's that guy?" he says, pointing at me. Seems like I've got some competition.

"I'm Naruto. I'm writing your advice column." He looks at me quizzically and then to Tsukune.

"That so?" Tsukune laughs a little nervously

"Yeah, he's got a lot of life experience, so I thought it would be a good fit, and the club needs more members. If you don't think so, Gin that's fine – I just- "

"Don't worry about it, man. I guess I just don't know him as well as you do." Oh, so that's his thing, huh? I've seen guys like him before. Confident. Cocky. Not used to having things they want outside of their grasp. Dude has looks, and charm. Yeah, I know the type.

"You're the class player, right? Get any girl you go after, except for Tsukune's girls, which gives you no end of grief." He looks at me surprised.

"How would you know that?"

"You learn how to read people when they're constantly trying to kill you." Gin's eyes narrow, and I pull out a cigarette, alongside a lighter.

Flick, fwoosh, crackle, and we have lift off. I stand up and open a window, then I pull out another smoke. "You want this Mizore?"

She looks at me appraisingly, and nudges my hand away. "Later."

"A'ight." I figured she'd go for it. Guess not. Tsukune starts to play peacemaker again

"So that's Kurumu taking the Formal article, right?"

"Yes! You're going with me right, Tsukune?" Tsukune looks from Kurumu to Moka and back again.

"Alright, sure Kurumu. No problem." I still need to help Tsukune out, and with pre-formal issues that's going to be a pretty big annoyance.

School dances, the bane of any sane teenaged male existence. Gin takes a seat.

"So Naruto, how does your column work exactly? Do you just give off your sage advice without anyone's input or do you answer letters or what?"

"I don't know. I figured you'd be the one to tell me how it works. I don't even like to write."

"Oh, I get it. Only have eyes for Mizore, huh?" I do not like this man.

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Mizore:**_

Naruto stood stock-still and blushed after Gin's remark. Immediately, I was very concerned. He didn't seem like the type of guy to start having feelings for someone fast, and I don't entirely think I like him that way.

After their tiff, the meeting continued and we got our articles assigned to us. Moka wound up with fashion, Yukari with class events, Gin took sports, and Naruto was assigned an article about the Arts department. Oh, I also got the investigative section. I was asked to look into the Student Police Committee. It's dark when the meeting is adjourned.  
Naruto approached me afterwards, and offered me the cigarette again.  
He told me the truth when I met him. It seems like he'll always be honest.

"Naruto I don't want that." He quirks an eyebrow

"Sure thing." He flips up his hood and makes his way towards the door. "Look it's not-Naruto, I'm not-".

Gin stands up "So what, just because she doesn't want to get lung cancer, you're going to walk away and sulk like a three year old? Some advice columnist." Naruto stops at the door, standing inside the frame.

"No, it has nothing to do with that. If Mizore doesn't want to smoke, that's her decision and I respect her for making it. It's _you_ I'm leaving to get away from. I can't stand fake people."

"Really? Why don't I prove to you just how real I am?" Gin snarls

Naruto glances back, and turns around with his hands spread. "Wouldn't want to break your porcelain fists, pretty boy. Though it's nice to see a real emotion show itself."

"Let's take this outside then!"

"Fine by me!" Gin jumps out the window, and Naruto follows suit. Tsukune, Moka, Kurumu, and Yukari run down the stairs, leaving me alone in the classroom. Who new that such a huge amount of chaos could come from me refusing to smoke. I wonder if Naruto realizes what kind of monster I actually am?

If he knew that smoking that cigarette was the most painful thing I'd ever done, and the only reason I did it was so I didn't alienate him? He's the only real friend I've ever had.

He's the only one that took the time to ask me what was wrong. He went out of his way to make me smile. And now he and the sophomore that was teaching all of us about the newspaper were going to have a brawl right outside in the courtyard.

All because I didn't want to go through that again.

I rush down the stairs as fast as I possibly can, the spiral leading me downwards and counter clockwise. I get there in time to see Gin in monster form hit Naruto so hard he's sent flying into a wall, which he crashes against. Naruto lies there in a crumpled heap. And Gin waves his hand rapidly.

"Just like I thought, all talk, no game. So, Mizore, you wanna go to formal with me?"

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Naruto**_: Three ribs, at least two thoracic vertebrae and a hip, I think. Ugh, Pretty-boy can pack one hell of a punch. "So, Mizore, you wanna go to formal with me?" And that's all I'm going to need to get back up, I think. I move my left arm, and realize that that's at least sprained. This is going to be a fun fight. I roll to my right, and support my weight on my right arm. I pull my left leg up under me, and force myself to my feet. I have to take a quick two step to each side, because everything is spinning, but I'm up on my feet again, facing wolf-ized Gin. "He's back up?!"

_An-chan, how well do you fink that you kno-hic- Know me?_ My concussed brain plays the scene that I'd been blacked out for back to me.

_I can describe you in less than ten words, Otōto._

_Bullspit. If you c'n do that I'll… I'll get it tattooed on me. Anko grazes my forehead with her hand._

_I read a book once. It was about a boy who grew up to become a great leader; he stole from the rich so that he could give the money to the impoverished. His dad told him something before he died, and it reminds me of you every time I think about it. _

_What w's i'?_

"Rise and rise again, until lambs become lions." _You w'n again, An-chan._ Gin looks at me, and narrows his eyes. His snout starts to twitch a little and he laughs a guttural, feral laugh

"You reek of fear, Naruto. Do you really think that you can stand up against me, alone?"

"Never." I bring my hands up in a cross formation, hoping that I can pull this off. My vision's in a haze, and I'm still dizzy.

"Never huh? So you just want to die on your feet?"

"I'm never alone. " 100 other versions of me poof into existence and they all advance on Gin like he never hit them. _Because he didn't._ The werewolf disappears from sight, moving at speeds that I can't even register. Dude, my hip's broken, and he's moving faster than Minato Himself, with all the power of a friggin' freight train. This is _awesome._ Before I know it, all but five of my clones are left standing, and Gin's back where he started, slightly winded.

"So you can clone yourself, huh? I have to admit, that ability's pretty impressive," suddenly, the world starts to shift and I hear static. Black hair. Pale skin. "But it's not any good when the clones are all of a weakling." Sakura was standing at our right, yelling at us to stop. _I remember this_. I was in my orange Jump Suit.

_I know what happens next. _ Before Sasuke can get the chance to move, I lunge. And hit him, hard. I go feral, screaming incoherently.

"It was you! You did this to me! You bastard! I put it all on the line for you! You were my best friend, and you killed a leaf ninja! You! Who always spoke about pride in clan and village before everything else! I'll kill you! I won't stop until your bones are nothing but dust!"

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Gin**__: _I had to admit, this fight was kind of sad. Here was this new freshman, with whisker marks and blue eyes. He was beaten; I punched him hard enough to kill most humans (I assumed that's what he was, because he carried their scent and hadn't turned into his monster form). But he had to get back up.

_I pressed a button when I asked Mizore to the dance, didn't I?_ He stood on his feet really shakily, and pressed his hands together. They looked like a cross.

Suddenly there's like, a hundred of the guy. _What is he, a Gakī? _

I move like the wind, ripping through one of the new versions of him. It explodes into smoke and dust, and another throws a punch aimed at my head. I go, fast, and just rip through the new Narutos without a second thought. By the time I need a breather there's only five or so left. _He's weak._

So I told him. "So you can clone yourself, huh?" He looks at me, and begins to crouch. He breathes deeper, and deeper and hits all fours, but it doesn't faze me. "I have to admit, that ability's pretty impressive," A strange Yōkai based energy starts to seep out of him, I'm on the defensive now, realizing that whatever kind of monster he really is, he's letting his true form out. "But it's not any good when the clones are all of a weakling." After I finish my trash talk, I notice he's changed. His eyes are red, and those weird scars on his face are bigger. His fingernails have turned into claws, and a shield made from Yōkai that looks just like a Fox with two tails surrounds him. He bounds at me, all his shakiness from before is totally gone, and he's on me in a second. He moves faster than I ever could. My back's on the ground, and he's straddling me, he starts to flail his claws, ripping at my sternum. I can feel my shoulder blade break under his tirade, most of my ribcage feels like spears and I'm bleeding heavily within a minute **"It was you! You did this to me! You bastard! I put it all on the line for you! You were my best friend, and you killed a leaf ninja! You! Who always spoke about pride in clan and village before everything else! I'll kill you! I won't stop until your bones are nothing but dust!" **I can feel him tearing deeper, I don't have any idea what he's talking about, but I know that this fight is lost. It's right here that Mizore screams at him, at the top of her lungs.

"Naruto, stop!" his eyes lose some of their feral fog, and he does as she says. I cough, and he stares at his hands for a bit. He looks over to Mizore

He sputters "I guess… this means you're not going to formal with me… huh?" and falls over. Mizore looks at him, and frowns.

"Stupid. You're so stupid!" she runs away. Then every thing goes black.

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Naruto**__: _When I wake up, I'm in a hospital bed. I can smell antiseptic, and hear the steady breathing of someone that isn't me. I look to my left, and a disheveled Kurumu is sleeping silently in a chair.

"K-Kurumu?" her eyes snap open.

"I wasn't asleep, I swear!" I attempt to smile, and make it but just barely.

"Why are you sleeping there?" She smiles.

"You and Mizore are our friends Naruto. As much of a crass jerk as you can be, you helped her a lot when none of us could, and we owe you. You belong with us just as much as Gin does, if not more. We've all been here in shifts. Well, except Mizore." Well that sucks.

"She's afraid of me isn't she?" They always are.

"No, she's really mad. She said that you were stupid for getting back up when Gin asked her to formal. That is was a stupid reason for fighting and she wasn't even going to go unless you asked her in the first place."

"You women are logistical nightmares." I say, and a couple seconds later what Kurumu actually said sinks in. "Wait, wait, wait. She wasn't going to go _unless_ I asked her? I figured she didn't want to have anything to do with me."

"She likes you a lot Naruto. As a friend, maybe more, who knows? She refused that Cigarette back during the club meeting because it hurt like hell for her to smoke at all."

"Well yeah, it burns. It's supposed to."

"No, you idiot. Her body isn't compatible with heat. It's the reason she always has a sucker in her mouth – they're enchanted to keep her cold. Mizore is a Yuki-Onna. She's _made_ of ice."

"Then why did she…"

"You were her first friend. She told us that. Out of all of us, you were the one that she didn't have to approach. You went out of your way to cheer her up, and she didn't want to risk alienating you because you smoked and she didn't want to."

I think for a couple seconds. "And people call me a knucklehead." I pull myself to a sitting position, and feel the stitch in my side that's left over from freshly healed bone breakage. "How long was I out, Kurumu?"

"Around a day and a half. Gin's still healing up. You gave him a thrashing." That makes today Sunday.

"Didn't mean to." I yank out my I.V. and vault off the bed. Stumble a little from the hip injury, but get my clothes back on without a hitch. "Where's Mizore?"

"She's in her dorm. I can take you, but… are you honestly ready to leave the infirmary? They took X-rays, you broke five vertebrae, and a few ribs. One of your hips had a hairline fracture, too."

"I heal fast." I say, without trying to clue her in as to why. "Let's go. I have an apology to make."

"Alright. Visiting hours in the dorms are still going on until four." I look at an alarm clock placed next to the bed. 2:30. Plenty of time to make it to the dorm.

Is it enough to make my apology?

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Mizore:**_

I'm sitting inside my dorm room's living area, with my face in my knees and my arms wrapped around my legs. It's a got tan and white wall, a futon in the far corner, and a knee high table in the middle of the room. The door to the outside world is a paper and wood ordeal.

_Why are people so stupid? _I look at the clock on the wall. It's 2:45 P.M. and all I want to do is sleep. I hear a knock next to the door "Mizore, it's Naruto. Will you let me in?"

"No, I'm taking a nap."

"I'm going to stay here until you open this door."

"Then you might as well sing a lullaby because I'm going to sleep." Silence. Great, I've successfully driven away the first friend I've ever made. Suddenly there's a slump next to the door. I hear someone take a deep breath, and then there's singing, in a soft, masculine alto.

"_This is all I have __  
__rich dreams that I can't afford…_"

No way.

_"You are what I'm not __  
__you are one in a million __  
__Great, I'm lost again __  
__I am battle worn baby __  
__and my pillow feels like stone __  
__and my cinema's empty __  
__they stopped showing me there years ago…"_

He can't be making this up off the top of his head. It's too good.

"_All your friends can see __  
__they talk in the corridors __  
__they would have you saved __  
__if only one of them could swim to you."_

I told him to sing me a lullaby. It was a joke.

He took it seriously?_  
_

"_Great, I'm lost again __  
__I am battle worn baby __  
__and my pillow feels like stone __  
__and my cinema's empty __  
__they stopped showing me there years ago."_

Why is he trying so hard? I get up and slowly walk to the door. _  
_

"_and for my sins I'll creep around __  
__you forever __  
__and for my sins I'll creep around __  
__you forever"_

I need to talk to him, don't I?_  
_

"_I am battle worn baby __  
__and my pillow feels like stone __  
__and my cinema's empty…"_

I open the door. He's slouched against the wall, in his T-shirt, and jeans with his hoodie piled into his lap. He looks at me, and smiles a little bit. "Was that a good enough lullaby?"

"W-where did you learn that song?"

"A woman that took care of me a lot when I was a kid sang it to me when I had trouble sleeping. She wrote music as a hobby, and she constantly tried to adopt me – but whenever she did the village council declared her an unfit parent because of stuff that happened when she was fourteen. That's where the song came from."

"Why are you here?" I clutch my hands into fists, and stare at him shaking.

"To say I'm sorry. You're a good friend Mizore, and… and an awesome girl. I like you a lot, and I don't want you to hate me, alright?"

"Stupid. You're stupid." I'm shaking a lot now.

"I get that a lot." His smile widens to a grin so wide that his eyes shut.

"Fine, you can come in, but if you touch anything I'm going to turn you into a Popsicle."

He walks inside, and I shut the door behind him. I gesture toward the table and he takes a seat.

"What do you want? Tea, water, Coke?"

"What's Coke?" That will not do. None of my friends can go through life without knowing the glory that is Coca-cola. I head to the kitchen to grab the beverages

I pop a can open, and pour him a glass, freezing some of it so that it will stay cold. I pour myself a glass and then take the cups back to the table.

"So what are we going to spend the next hour doing?"

He squirms a little and stammers "I, uh, well I figured we could get to know each other some more?"

"Alright, so, how do you want to do that?"

"Ask me any ten questions. I'll answer them, and then I'll ask you ten. Fair?"

"Sure. So, where are you from exactly? I've never heard of a monster with your particular skill set."

"I'm from the Village Hidden in the Leaves. It's a new territory that Yōkai decided to reach out to. I'm here because I was the only one in my village that met the requirements for the, uh, Dark Lord position thing." That's… no way. Naruto? A dark lord? Maybe if that bad attitude he had was actually his real self. Speaking of…

"Why are you acting so… not you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean you're acting more cheery than usual. You seem to have a spring in your step, you know?"

"Well crap, thanks for letting me know. Guess I gotta cut that shit right the hell out." He smile doesn't falter. "I like Yōkai. I never expected it to be the way it is, you know? It's a clean slate… and I think I need that."

" What happened with Gin? You went crazy – screaming about him killing fellow leaf ninja and stuff." He opens his eyes

"Well now we get to the meat of it, don't we? I had a flashback. Remember that scar I showed you, on my first night here?" I nod "I saw some pretty brutal stuff the day I got that. A friend died that day, and… I sort of snapped. I was well enough to stay alive, but just barely, and by the time I got back home I was an incoherent mess. It's only thanks to the Yamanaka clan, Konoha's mind-walkers, that I'm as sane as I am now. I couldn't even form a sentence when I got back."

"What did you see that day?" his smile turns into a frown.

"Please ask me something else. I… don't want to talk about it. It's too fresh." I wait, but he shakes his head and frowns harder.

"Who is the woman that wrote that song?"

"Anko Mitarashi. She's a special Jōnin that works for the T. and I. division in the village. She had to deal with a lot of the same stuff I did as a kid, but never had anyone there for her, so she promised herself that she wouldn't let anyone else go through that hell. I spent a lot of nights on her couch when I was little. She got me ice cream all the time, and read me stories at bedtime. She wanted to adopt me legally, more than anything but the village council wouldn't let her. "

"Why?"

"They hated both of us. Me for what's sealed inside me, and her for following the only person that ever really showed her care."

"Why do the people of your village hate her, in more detail."

"She was originally the apprentice of Orochimaru of the Sannin. Orochimaru, and left the village when he was passed over for the position of fourth Hokage. She went with him, becoming a missing ninja, sort of like a traitor to the country. She was absent during the attack of the Kyūbi, but her master performed awful experiments on her, and when she got back she was in about the same condition I was when I came back from my last mission. The village viewed her as a traitor at best, and at worst the ex-girlfriend of a snake obsessed creep."

"That's terrible."

"Yeah." He looks down.

"What do you see Anko as?" His eyes snap back to me, and in them I see horrible things. I see pain promised to anyone that threatens what he holds dear, destruction of house and home. I see a man that's willing to teach others the error of their ways, with his fists, if necessary.

"My Ane."

"Did you have anyone special back home?" His eyes twinkle for a second, and then they fog over.

"You mean, like, a girlfriend? I had a huge crush on a girl, but I never really told her how I felt. I could tell her feelings were the same as mine, but I didn't have the guts to do it publicly and we never got a chance to talk in private, so I played dumb."

"You didn't have the courage to just _talk _to her?"

"You're at eight, by the way. Just letting you know. I can't entirely answer that one. I liked her a lot, and I know I've got guts to spare, but when it comes to girls I'm like an idiot savant. I'm either totally in the game or I can't do anything."

"What was her name?"

"Hinata Hyūga."

"Okay, so this is my last question… What's your biggest dream?"

"You mean, like, my goal in life?" I nod "Time was, I wanted to be Hokage, but now I'm not so sure. If being Hokage means seeing what I saw those few weeks ago over and over again, I don't think I could handle working my way up." He smiles softly "My turn."

"Okay, shoot."

"Why didn't you tell me that smoking was as painful as it was for you?"

I look at my hands, rub them together and try to think of an answer he'll accept. "I… you were there for me. I needed someone, and so I decided to play it off."

"I told you that if you didn't want to I would smoke them both." I wince "It's alright, I get where you're coming from." He sighs "Who's your favorite relative?"

"My mom. We're really close, and I'm a lot like her. She was the one that taught me to use my powers."

"What's it like, having to hide your true form all the time?"

"You mean you don't know?"

"Nope. With me, what you see is what you get." _So what happened when you thrashed Gin?_

"It's not all that hard. As long as I have a frost-sucker I don't really have any problem with it."

"What if you don't?"

"I'll melt. My body is made almost entirely of elements that can't stay solid above freezing, so I have to have something that helps me stay cold or I'll turn into mush."

"That's interesting. What's your home town like?"

"It's a remote place, high in the Himalayas. Really cold, which is good for the Yūki-Onna. It's very beautiful and the people there are close knit. We live in houses mostly made of snow and ice – sort of like giant igloos- because it's so high up that they never melt anyways. I have a small family, most of us do, because Snow Women are only fertile for a very short time."

"Like, how long?"

"Anywhere from three to six years after our seventeenth birthday." He nods

"Anko's infertile, so while I can't pretend to know what it's like not to be able to reproduce, I can at least offer a shoulder to lean on. Were you scared when I flipped out the other day?"

"Yes, and no. No because I realize that it's normal for a monster to have a violent side, yes because you didn't seem like you were going to stop, even after you killed Gin. That was frightening."

"Are you afraid of snakes?" _what does that have to do with anything?_

"Uh, no. Why do you ask?"

"No real reason. Just can't think of many good questions." He scratches his chin. "What holidays do the Yūki-Onna celebrate?"

"Depends on the family. No matter what race a spouse is, the child of a Yūki-Onna will always be either a snow-girl or a snow-boy, so the culture of each family is kind of a different animal – My family celebrates Mandarin holidays, but I've had neighbors that celebrate bastille day and thanksgiving. It's all dependent on what new culture enters the family, you know?" He nods.

"So, uh, my last question." He looks down at his glass of coke, picks it up and takes a swig. Looks at me, then back to his glass and takes another, then looks at me again. There's nervousness in his eyes. "Will you go to formal with me?"

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Gin**__: _

I wake up in a morphine-induced haze, and look to my left to see a very alert Tsukune sitting in a blue plastic chair. Peering at my hands, I recognize that I've somehow been returned to human form, and that I'm in a partition of the infirmary.

"So, how bad off am I?" Tsukune thinks a bit and then responds.

"Most of your ribcage was broken, a shoulder blade was shattered and a lot of your abdominal muscles were pretty badly torn up. You're natural healing has repaired most of the muscular damage, and after your bones heal you should recover to at or near one hundred percent."

"How's the other guy?" Tsukune frowns.

"Naruto woke up an hour ago. You managed to break a few vertebrae, and a couple of his ribs. He had a hairline fracture in his hip, as well, but he hopped out of bed and rushed off to see Mizore no problem."

"Now _that's_ a power. Either his body can repair itself faster than a blink, or he's just totally ignorant to his nerve endings. Either way, while I might not entirely like him, I have to give him some credit. He's tough." Tsukune frowns deeper, opens his mouth to ask me something but then closes it saying nothing. "What's up, man?"

"What Naruto said before the fight, about me and the girls… was that true?"

_Yes. _"No, not in the slightest. He was totally wrong about that, dude." A look of relief floods his face. "So, did Mizore leave me any cards, or flowers?"

"No, she's been in her room since we got you two to the hospital. According to Kurumu, she wouldn't let Naruto in until he sang a song for her. I guess Kurumu thinks Naruto's a really good singer."

"Please tell me that he's getting punished." I got _mauled_. He's getting the girl, and he's patched up. _He won._

"He got off with a warning and detention after they asked us what happened and explained that he had a psychological problem. The Chairman also thought it would be a good idea if part of his power was sealed away, so Naruto has to give them an item to enchant. She's letting him know when class is back in session on Monday."

"Fair enough, I guess I did sort of trigger it didn't I?" Tsukune looks off to the side

"While he was out, they took his shirt off for X-rays, and his whole body is covered in scars. He had a really nasty one at the area where his stomach and ribcage meet up that was at least an inch thick and a foot long. And that's not even the worst one, just the most fresh looking."

"What was the worst?"

"He had a really awful set of slash marks raking across his back, and a lot of puckered marks that the nurse said were entry wounds around his neck." _Damn._

"Maybe he will make a good advice columnist."

"I should think so." Tsukune gets up and leaves.

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Naruto:**_

Mizore has to think about my last question. She looks off to the side of the room for a bit, either trying to find the easiest way to say no, or looking for a really dramatic way to say yes.

"Fine. On one condition." There's always a catch.

"And that would be?"

"I don't want to go to the dance with my date smelling like smoke. So you have to quit." Aw, man.

"Can't it be anything else? Money, finding a date for your ugly friend, streaking, anything?" She smiles demurely

"I'm sure Gin wouldn't mind doing something I asked him to do like this."

"Was that a dig? That was a dig."

She shrugs. "It's your decision, if you wanna go to the dance with me you'll quit. If not, that's fine; I'll go with Gin. He should be patched up just fine by next Friday night."

"When you said that most of your body was made of icy stuff, you forgot to mention your heart." She nods.

"Well, yeah, of course that's how it works. Now if you don't mind, it's four o' clock, so you're going to have to leave." I get up and walk towards the door.

"You are evil."

"I know. I am a monster after all."

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Tsukune:**_

I'm walking halfheartedly around campus when I see Naruto leave the girls dorm rooms. He looks my way, and points at me.

"You. Follow. Now." I laugh nervously.

"Hey, Naruto, what's up?" He just walks off.

"You coming, or not? I don't got all day." I run to catch up, and we walk to his dorm room. When we get there, I'm surprised to see that it looks like a whirlwind has been inside it; there are clothes strewn about the floor, and papers filled with writing all over the place. I get a look at one of them and notice a small passage denoting the weaknesses in the academy's barriers. He sees me eyeing the paper.

"I like to get a good handle on my surroundings. It helps out to know what's up in tight spots." As always I chuckle nervously. I see Naruto take out a piece of paper rather reverently, and place it on one of the few clean spots in his room. Then he sits in an office chair taking out an ink brush, and an ink stone, pouring what looks like purified water into the bowl. He grinds an Ink-stick in the water, and after it's turned totally black he lets the brush soak up the ink. He applies the ink to the paper, making a picture that has three upside down interlocking triangles at the center of an hourglass, all inside a circle which is surrounded by lines heading from the circle to the outside of the paper. He spins around to face me.

"What do you know about Chakra, Tsukune?"

"Nothing." I answer honestly.

"I figured. Here's the deal. That picture I just drew is the seal of revelations. What it does for every living creature is the same, depending on how it's used. When a person meditates with it, control over their chakra, if they're destined to gain it, is given to them. You'll know that you've succeeded on your own. It'll strengthen something inside you and you'll feel more vitalized than you have in your entire life."

"Uhm. Okay."

"When you know your nindō, come back and tell me. I'd love to hear it."

"My nindō?"

"A lot of people just assume that a nindō is a random rule that a shinobi lives their life by, but that's not the case. When we unlock our chakra, we see things objectively for the first time. We get a defining glimpse of who we are as a person, and that sight reveals our nindō, our personal standard of shinobi life."

"What's yours?" Naruto opens his eyes, and their normal rough warmth dissipates.

"I never give up, and I never go back on my word. When I make a promise I keep it, no matter what." It's only for a second, but when he says that I see a different person. Something tells me that in his homeland Naruto will eventually be a great hero.

I see a man that will go through anything for a friend.

"Hey, uh, Tsukune, I need you to take these." He's holding out his cigarettes – he has a full carton.

"Why?"

"Get rid of them. However you decide to do it is fine, I just don't want to see them again."

"Quitting?"

"A little birdy told me that lung cancer might not be worth it. Whenever you want to start with the meditating, just sit cross-legged with the picture on that paper facing upwards. Stare into it, and clear your mind as best you can. "

I leave and go to my room, and throw the cigarettes in the trashcan. I light some candles, as I normally would when I meditate, and sit with the seal in my lap. I stare at the picture, just like I was told to but nothing happens. What seems like hours later I hit a wall and fall asleep, but just before I do the lines on the paper begin to wave around.

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Mizore:**_

Naruto didn't show up for class today – said he went to the nurse and told her he was sick, and then she gave me his homework to take him. I showed up at his dorm around an hour after classes let out, to find all of the lights off and the door locked. I knocked. "Go away."

I knocked another time. No response. Knocked again, and still nothing. Knocked a third time, and finally got an answer. Naruto slams the door open, his face contorted in rage.

"WHAT!?"

"Mrs. Nekonome asked if anyone would bring you your homework, and I volunteered." He looks at me surprised, and then looks away.

"Sorry for snapping. I'm not in the best of sorts right now." He pulls something out of his hoodie pocket and places it in his mouth, but he's facing away from me so I can't tell what it is.

"Can I come in?" he sighs.

"I guess, but I don't have anything past water and some to-go from the cafeteria."

"That's okay." I say, slipping my shoes off and stepping inside. "Wow, for only being here a few days you've certainly made yourself at home." His dorm room is a total mess. There are clothes all over the floor and papers pinned up on the walls. There's a full-length mirror to the right of his closet, which is in the living area. There's a guitar in the far left corner of the room, and to the left of his mirror there's an orange and black jogging suit, with spirals at the shoulders. There's a huge tear on the shirt at the torso making it pretty much unusable. He notices me looking at it.

"Wouldn't do if I forgot how hard I sucked that day."

"Okay, I don't get it. First you come to my dorm yesterday all smiles and laughter. Today you're all down in the dumps. What's up with you?"

He turns around, and I finally see the object that he put in his mouth earlier. It's not a cigarette. It's a wooden toothpick. "Oh."

"My head is pounding, and my bones feel like they're made of cement. I haven't had a cigarette since before my fight with Gin. Formal better be the best party in the history of parties."

"You wanna go get some air? It might do you some good to get out of here." He nods.

"Yeah, maybe you're right." He puts his boots on, and I put on my shoes, which have been off for all of thirty seconds.

"Doesn't seem worth the trouble of taking these things off." I say. He smiles a little bit around his toothpick.

"I'm lucky I was smart enough to not think about giving Tsukune the job of getting rid of my smokes. If I had known where they were, I'd be eating them whole out of the box right now."

"Let's go to the cafeteria. We'll have dinner, and go over what our colors for formal will be."

"Oh, yay. Nothing like constantly wishing for death and talking about clothes shopping." I can't help but smile.

"The only things that'll really be of concern for you are what color your shirt and tie will be. There's a clothes store on campus. We'll go and you can help me pick out my dress."

"I have two things to say to this. One; you do not seem like the type of girl to get excited over clothes. Two; isn't that bad luck?"

"It's formal, Naruto, we're not getting married."

"Alright, alright."

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Naruto:**_

As we leave my dorm room, Mizore takes my arm. It startles me every time, but it seems like the most natural thing in the world to her. We walk to the cafeteria, which isn't at its dinner rush quite yet, and find a seat. I place my hoodie at the table, and we both go to get food. Mizore gets a large salad with all kinds of vegetables, some chicken and a lot of Italian dressing.

With the state my stomach's stuck in, I get ginger ale and some toast.

"That's all you're gonna eat? Last time you ate the whole cafeteria."

"Last time I didn't feel like my stomach was trying to get me to apologize for something." Mizore nods.

"Fair enough." As we eat our meal, Mizore starts to talk about what happened in class, and things get to the subject of my fight with Gin. "The Chairman came looking for you today. Chances are he'll be back for you tomorrow or he'll show up at your dorm."

"Why'zat?"

"You tore into Gin like a hot knife through butter. Even though they're letting you off with detention, the Chairman thought it would be safest to seal some of your power away, so he's going to enchant an item to be that seal. He'll ask what you prefer, and if you don't have a preference it'll probably end up being a Rosario."

"You mean like that thing Moka wears?" Please no. Please, Kami, no.

"Yeah." She plays with her salad a little bit, and begins to eat. We go through the rest of our meal in relative silence, and leave the cafeteria. She hooks her arm around mine again. Still startling.

It's about a mile to the clothing store, and when we get there she starts to talk colors. I'm surprised to find the place is _huge_ and full of every brand of clothing known to man, apparently. I even see a jumpsuit that looks exactly like my old one. There are three floors, all connected by stairways and elevators. "So, how about red with green accents?"

"Okay."

"Or orange with white?"

"Okay." She looks at me

"You don't really care, do you?"

"I'm just happy you said you'd go with me." She gives me that demure smile again, and I can't help but feel a little electricity. "I do like orange, though."

She thinks for a second, and her face lights up with an idea "yellow and orange."

"Why yellow and orange?" It seems no matter how hard I try I will never stop asking stupid questions.

"They're complimentary to us. Orange compliments your eyes, and yellow compliments mine."

"Tell me again how you got so interested in clothes?"

"It's part of being a Snow-woman. We're expected to know the feminine arts from an early age, and I sucked at everything _but_ clothes." And so we hit light speed going from clothing rack to clothing rack, she finds all sorts of dresses to try on, a jacket, a pair of slacks, a button down shirt and two ties in my size. Then we make our way to a hallway filled with doors that look like window shutters and she steps inside with all of her dress choices.

The next hour is filled with me viewing her in different outfits, and her not even thinking about my opinion. She comes out in a bright orange spaghetti strap sundress with yellow frills around the skirt.

"That looks really good on you Mizore."

"It's not formal enough." She says, and goes back into the dressing room. She tends to hang the clothes she doesn't intend to buy on the outside door. Maybe… yes!

I grab the dress and stow it away, and I wait for her to come out in her next choice. What she comes out in is… well there's no other word besides breathtaking.

She's wearing a strapless dress, - it's a bright, almost white, orange with yellow sequins in a band around the hip. The skirt reaches her knee, but it's split up the side enough to reveal a little thigh. She stands and spins a little, awaiting my response.

"Mizore… I… wow."

"I like it too." She turns around and faces the full-length mirror, then nods. "It's settled." She goes back into the changing room and gets her regular clothes back on, and we head for the cash register. The cashier is a lackadaisical disheveled boy that reminds me of Shikamaru. She buys her dress, and I take a steep inhale at the price. 40,000 Yen. I was surprised to find that the Yen-Ryu exchange rate was pretty much one for one when I got here. Pleasantly surprised. She makes to leave, but when I stop she turns around.

"You coming Naruto?"

"You go on ahead, I'll catch up." I wait for her to get outside, and I place the sundress on the counter. Cashier Man raises an eyebrow.

"Your girlfriend know you like to dress in drag?"

"It's for her. And She's not my girlfriend."

"Shame. You two make a decent looking couple. Everyone else comes in here and gets in disagreements. It's troublesome." I look at him closely and his eyebrow rises further. "You gonna buy this or not?"

"How much is it?" He points to the screen at the top of the register. "Oh you've gotta be kidding me."

"Hey man, women's clothes aren't cheap. Especially a pretty dress like that. 20,000 Yen or bust." He taps his finger on the counter and waits.

"You people are vampires."

"No, that's the Akashiya clan, I'm just a cashier." I cough up the cash and leave the store as quickly as possible, placing the dress inside my hoodie. Mizore's outside waiting for me.

"What took so long?" she asks politely.

"Don't worry about it." I say. She looks at me suspiciously, and I smile.

"Well, I know I don't exactly have a right to preach about attendance, but if you miss class on Friday you're not allowed to attend formal." She says, and we walk in comfortable silence back to the outside of the girls' dorm. Once we get there, she says good-bye and steps inside, and I head back to my room.

I step inside, and try on my Formalwear. It's a standard black suit, with a bright orange button down and a pin striped yellow tie. I hate dress shoes, though, so I'm wearing my combat boots instead. After looking myself over in the mirror, I change back into my regular clothes, and as I'm pulling on my pants I hear a knock at the doorframe, and when I open it, and a creepy old dude in white robes with glowing eyes is there. "Who are you?"

"Hello young man, I am the Chairman of this academy."

"Oh, you're here to talk about sealing my powers up right?" he looks startled.

"I've made friends. You showed up in class looking for me today. They told me." He sighs

"I see. The ritual is fairly complex, and will take until Friday afternoon to complete. I've come to ask if you have any object that you would like for the seal to be, as well as if there is any person you in particular would give the ability to remove the seal to."

I think for a few seconds, and take off the Necklace I won in my bet with Tsunade. "Will this work?" He nods

"Yes, it should do fine. Is there anyone in particular that you would entrust the ability to remove the seal to?"

"I can't do it myself?" he shakes his head.

"I'm afraid not. I can't risk you refusing to wear the seal, so I'm afraid that once you put it on removing it will either be impossible while you are at the academy, or you will have to entrust someone to remove it for you when times are urgent." I look down and to the right. Is there anyone I really trust here? Anyone that's close enough for this sort of thing?

"Yeah, I gotcha. Mizore Shirayuki. She's the one for the job." He nods.

"The seal will be ready for you after class on Friday. I will expect you in my office then."

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Mizore: **_

I walk into class Friday morning to see Naruto sitting in the middle of the room, gnawing on a toothpick. I notice a box of them on his desk, and he his head slouched against his hand. I pass him, and take my normal seat behind his. I take a small chance and tap his arm softly to get his attention. When he glances back, I say "I… I just want to say that I'm looking forward to formal tonight."

He nods, and smiles – not his normal face splitter, but a small smile that barely exposes any teeth. "I am too, Mizore. I have to stop by the Chairman's office after class, though. Wanna come with me?"

"Sure." He takes his toothpick out and puts his head down. The rest of the day is fairly standard, spends it talking about cats in literature, we move from class to class, and Naruto splits off for the second half of the day. When the end of class rolls around, I meet him outside the main building and we walk to the Chairman's house together. Once we arrive, we're told to sit and wait by his secretary. The room we're in has a row of upholstered seats, across from a large desk housing a telephone, and a computer. Soon enough, the door to the office opens, and the student body president walks out. The chairman waits at the door, and once the other guy leaves, he gestures for Naruto to come in.

I wait.

And wait.

And wait.

What seems like a few hours later, Naruto comes out, holding his hoody in his arm. I step up, and hook arms with him. "Wanna get something to eat before formal?" he looks at me like I'm insane.

"Who are you?"

I smile. Even though I don't think it's all that funny. "I'm Mizore, your date."

"Look, lady, I don't really know what you're talking about, but the only person I'd date is Sakura."

"Sakura?"

"Yeah. She's the greatest! She's really pretty, and she's good at medical stuff, like, really good!"

I step away, dropping his arm like it's a red-hot iron. "Why didn't you tell me you were interested in someone else?"

"Because, lady, I don't really know you. I mean, you're cute and all, but you're no Sakura." Against my will I can feel my lower lip start to quiver. I run, as fast as my legs will carry me, and my vision starts to haze because of the tears that are welling up.

Before I know it, I'm at my dorm room.

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**(A/N: NEW NARRATIVE DEVICE: **_Inner Naruto/Moka_**).**_

_**Naruto:**_

As the weird purple haired girl runs away, the necklace I won from Tsunade starts to float. The crystal reaches chin level, and I feel a powerful jolt.

"Ow!" a voice that sounds a lot like mine, except… more tired than me speaks.

'I knew I was stupid, but I didn't think I was _this_ stupid.'

"Who are you?"

'I'm you. Or, more accurately, you're me, before the nice, solid ass-fucking life gave us a few weeks ago.'

"What do you mean?"

'Well, I suppose I can reveal something relative to our current situation. I don't need you being another me though so, don't expect everything. Also, you don't need to speak out loud. Look around, See people looking at you like you're nuts? That's because they can't hear me.'

I do look around, and there's a secretary like Baa-Chan's giving me a weird look. _What do you mean?_

'You remember that mission we went on, to the Land of Rice?'

_Yeah?_

'Well, your precious Sakura got an offer from Sasuke that she couldn't refuse. She's not a Konoha ninja anymore, she's _his_ medic. So your delusions should be shattered right. About. Now.'

_You mean she never loved me?_

'Not that way, dude. She tried to get us to leave with her, but being Hokage held precedence.'

_Yeah. It always will. Who was that purple haired girl? And where am I?_

'That was Mizore Shirayuki. She's a nice girl who was down in the dumps when we arrived here at Yōkai Academy. There's no telling what would've happened had we not showed up when we did. We've gotten rather close to her over the past few days. You know how it is with that first friend. They always hold a special place. You're here because we got sent to try and fill a position more important than Hokage. I'll explain later, but right now the girl that I was slowly falling for, before you showed up just ran away crying.'

… _I just did something really stupid, didn't I?_

'Wouldn't be much of a change from the norm, you braying jackass.'

_What do we do? _I scratch at my right wrist with my left and, and notice something there. _AND WHY DO WE HAVE A TATTOO?_

'We got the tattoo because we lost a bet to Anko-ane. And as for what we do? Read what it says.'

_Rise and rise again, until lambs become lions. So your solution is just not giving up?_

'We gotta be lions, dude. What you just said royally fucked up her mood, and the way Mizore is, we're gonna have to do a lot more than just apologize.'

_So what do you suggest?_

'Find Kurumu Kurono' Suddenly an image of a pretty aqua haired girl flashes through my head. 'She's usually pretty good when it comes to matters of the heart. Ask her to get Mizore changed into her dress, and her window open. After that, you head back to our dorm and get on your formal clothes. Tune your guitar and get your ass to the girls' dorm as fast as you can.'

_Why my guitar?_

'Last time we fucked up, Mizore only let us talk to her after we sang for her.'

_You _sang_ for her?_

'Yes, and I know it's something that we reserve for the people closest to us, but she's the one that's kept us together in this place so far.'

_Yeah I gotcha. So, uh, what do we sing?_

'You remember that song Anko-ane taught us? The one she wrote about what it felt like when her sensei betrayed her?'

_Yeah._

'And how to do that thing she did at gigs, where you display your memories, sort of like a movie projector on an invisible wall?'

_I think I get where you're going with this._

'Good. Now I'm going to tell you all about Mizore while you look for Kurumu.'

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Kurumu:**_

I'm walking towards the boys dorm to pick up Tsukune when Naruto runs up to me, and nearly bowls me over onto the sidewalk. "You're Kurumu, right?" he asks, urgently.

"Yeah, you know that. Why are you asking?" He's acting really frantic, and it's starting to freak me out.

"I'm a different Naruto." He says, holding the necklace that we saw on him when the nurse removed his shirt. "I don't have time to explain, but the other me said I should ask you for help. I kind of messed up with Mizore, and he said to ask you to make sure she's in her dress, and that her window is open."

"So you're the reason Mizore's been bawling her eyes out in her dorm for the last two hours? Yeah, I don't think I'll be helping you any time soon."

"Look, I _really_ need your help Kurumu. Mizore sort of freaked me out, because I didn't recognize her after our powers were sealed. I don't remember most of my time here, and the other me has had to catch me up on most of it secondhand." No _way._

"Wait, did you say sealed? Like, with Moka's Rosario?" I see the jewel on his necklace begin to float, and that's all the answer I need. "I think I understand now. You're kind of like a figment right? Naruto without some quality of Naruto."

"He said 'He's me, but without the cluster-fuck that happened back home.'"

"So what happened with Mizore was all a misunderstanding?"

"Yeah. I didn't know her, and she assumed that I was the same me after I left the chairman's office. Now I'm trying to fix it, because the other me and I… well…" Naruto blushes and looks away.

"Oh my god. You _like _her! That is _so _cute!" I hug him. "Say no more! Kurumu is on the job! Yahoo!"

"Thanks!" he says, and runs off towards the boys' dorm. I turn around, and head back to the girls' rooms. _Tsukune, darling, you're going to have to wait._ I decide that this is urgent enough to go into my true form, and my dress is backless anyways, so I let my wings out, and I fly back to the girls' dorm and stop at Mizore's room, 406. I put an ear to the door and hear sniffling.

"Stupid. I can't believe I was that stupid." I knock at the doorframe.

"Hey, Mizore, it's Kurumu. Are you dressed? Want to walk to the dance with me and Tsukune?" she laughs morosely

"I'd just be a third wheel anyways." More sniffling.

"Hey, plenty of girls go stag! Moka is!" Mizore doesn't stop.

"I never even really wanted to go in the first place. The only reason I was looking forward to it was because…"

"Because you were going with Naruto, right?" _This is so juicy! They like each other but neither of them has initiated anything!_ "Hey, look, why don't you get dressed, okay? Here, I'll help you." I say, and open the door. She's in the middle of her room; a dress is laying in front of her on the floor. "Is that the dress you were planning on wearing tonight?" she nods. "It's beautiful. Why don't you go to the bathroom and change into it? It's kind of hot in here, so I'm gonna open the window." She stands up, taking her dress with her.

"Alright. I'll be back in a minute or so." I walk over to the window, and open it peering outside. There's a rustle in the woods surrounding the dorm, and suddenly then, out walks Naruto in a full suit, with his necklace, holding an acoustic guitar.

"This is your plan?" I hiss, "Do you really think it'll work twice?"

"I hope! I just want a chance to explain, anyways." He gulps, visibly "I'm not gonna give up, even if she hates me!" I hear footsteps behind me.

"Kurumu? Who are you talking to?" I turn around to see Mizore looking at, without much expression. Her dress is on, and her sucker is still in her mouth. "No-one, Mizore."

"Alright, well, I'm dressed. Let's –" before she can finish, I hear a guitar in the hands of an expert. Mizore pushes past me to look outside the window, and I follow her lead. Naruto begins to sing, once again, in that same soft Alto voice. There's a difference this time though. Behind him, a hazy picture forms, and though I can hear his voice and music distinctly, I can also see and hear voices coming from the picture behind him.

Behind him appears a picture of himself as a twelve year old, facing off with another black haired boy his age. **They're both standing at opposite ends of a valley, on what appear to be large statues. Young Naruto is out of breath, while modern Naruto continues to strum on his guitar. At first, he just stands there, staring at the other kid.** Modern Naruto begins to sing.

"_We were inside __  
__Wolfing down breakfast to make the grade __  
__Oh death arrived __  
__holding the wheel of an airplane…"_

**Young Naruto calls out to the figure across the valley. "Sasuke!" The other boy moves forward, without so much as looking back. "Are you just gonna run off again?!" The other boy turns around slowly, revealing that half of his body is covered in black markings, and his eye has turned a sickly black, with the Iris changing to a yellow color. **

"**So it's you? Hopeless little knucklehead." He says. "She sent you, huh? Like I already told Sakura, it's over. Just leave me alone."** Mizore gasps.** Then he starts to laugh. "What's with the angry face?" Young Naruto clenches and unclenches his fists.**

"_Hey don't look up __  
__Like paper and stones they are falling now __  
__Godzilla heart __  
__Is holding all the world to ransom…" _

"**Why? Why are you doing this to us? What happened to make you like this?" he screams. "Why are you doing it?"**

**Sasuke looks back blankly at Young Naruto, "Why is it any of your concern? Why should you care about what I do? I have my own path to follow now, and neither you nor anyone else can stop me from following it. I will tell you this much; My days of playing 'ninja' with you kids of the leaf village are done." Sasuke's tirade is obviously tearing at Young Naruto's heart.**

I look at Mizore, to see that she's nodding, as if she knows exactly where Young Naruto is emotionally.

"**All of them. They all risked their lives to save you!" he yells.**

"**Well wasn't that nice of them?" Sasuke retorts, and turns around to walk away. Young Naruto starts to look furious. He coils himself up, and leaps across the valley in a single bound. As he's flying through the air, his pupils change from circles to slits.**

"**Not so fast! You're gonna tell me that your comrades risked their lives for nothing?" he screams, and hits Sasuke full force. Young Naruto punches Sasuke in the face.**

"**My comrades, huh?" Sasuke quips "If I'd stayed with Comrades like you, I'd have never gotten this strong. Now I'm going to where Orochimaru is."**

___"Building fall down __  
__Don't let me out of my hologram __  
__Building fall down __  
__Does anyone here know a Superman?..."_

"**Are you out of your mind?! Orochimaru killed the third Hokage! He did everything in his power to destroy our village! Whatever it is that you're expecting from him, you think he's gonna give it to you for free?!" Young Naruto screams at the top of his lungs. "All he wants is to use your body like a new suit of clothes!" **

Mizore gasps.

"**There'll be nothing of you left! You'll never get out of there alive! You think I'll stand by, and just let you throw away your entire life?"**

**Sasuke looks back at Naruto, his eyes crazed and angry. "None of that matters now. The only thing matters is achieving my goal. If you keep insisting on getting in my way, well, it can't be helped" he says, and grasps the collar of Naruto's jumpsuit. **

___"Split second chance __  
__All of the airlocks are closing fast __  
__This is no way to die __  
__Pinned to the page like a butterfly…"_

"**If you won't listen to reason, then I guess I'll have to use force!" Naruto screams. Sasuke simply stares back and laughs. "What have you got to laugh about?!" Naruto yells.**

"**I remember you laughing the last time we met. Remember how thrilled you were at the idea of beating me to a bloody pulp? Where's your smile now?"**

"**Shut up! That was different! Maybe I felt that way at first, but you were different then! I didn't mean… I never really wanted that kind of fight. Even now, I still don't."**

"**I couldn't care less what you want." Sasuke says, and with inhuman strength lifts Naruto off of him with one arm. Sasuke stands, and holds Young Naruto up by his collar. Looking at him with grim satisfaction, he stays that way for a few seconds. Then he drops him, and punches him in the stomach with the same inhuman strength that allowed him to lift Young Naruto in the first place.**

**Young Naruto grunts, and hits the water so hard and fast that he skips across it. Young Naruto sinks in the water like a stone, but against all probability, he swims to the surface, and stands on top of the water. He runs at the statue that Sasuke is standing on, and leaps from the waters surface to the statue's hand, whilst calling Sasuke crazy, he leaps for the statues head, but Sasuke leaps down to intercept him, and kicks him in the face, hard.**

Mizore is openly crying, letting her ice-woman façade fall to the ground._  
_

"_With your granite heart __  
__you went and broke all the human rules __  
__so fuck you and all __  
__you believe to be true…"_

"**I have woken up, don't you see? That guy who dreamed of a happy future full of peace and friendship? He was asleep. That's why I left the village. That's why I've gone in search of power. It's not the future I dream of anymore! Only the past. That's where my dream lies." Sasuke says.**

Mizore is on her knees, barely high enough to look out the window.

___"Building fall down. __  
__Where are we now? __  
__And how did we get here?"_

**Sasuke and Young Naruto begin to throw ranged weapons at each other.** The memory fades to the background and we can see the woods once again.

Naruto yells up at us. "Mizore!"

Mizore stands. "What?" she asks, wiping her eyes, and appearing stoic once more.

Naruto stares her straight in the eye, his face a visage of pure determination. "What you just saw was the last conversation I had with the first friend I ever made. I know what it feels like to be betrayed, and I'm sorry for what I said at the Chairman's' office. It was an accident! I didn't know you because I couldn't remember! It's a side effect of the seal!" he clutches the crystal on his necklace and displays it.

"The other me really liked you! And after everything he's shown me, and how you two have spent the past few days together, I want a chance to get to know you too! Okay?" Mizore looks at him questioningly, and then nods curtly.

"I'll give you that chance. But you're going to explain just what's going on to me when I get down there."

I look at her, and she turns to me, smiling lightly. "Let's go, meet him downstairs Kurumu. We can Pick Tsukune up after that."

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**A/n: Whew! Thirty one pages in five days! This is the biggest chapter I've ever written for a story, but I'm happy with how it turned out! Tune in next week, for winter formal! – Dead!**_


	3. A Romance With Casualties

**A/N: **_**SO MANY IDEAS. **_** This chapter as well as the Student Police arc (because Mizore's article on them is quite scathing), and the exposure of just what Inner Naruto is, exactly (there are a few fundamental differences between his seal and Moka's). **

**Oh, and for the sake of shit, I've gotten quite a few (like, six) anonymous reviews that are just basically "This sucks." If you're not going to tell me why you think it sucks, you may as well not waste the time. I honestly think that if you're looking for finely honed, classical literature you **_**might **_**be barking up the wrong tree, y'know? It's a WAFF story, not a Romantic-period novel. Be constructive or take your mudslinging elsewhere. Also, Inner Naruto isn't down and out just because outer now exists. Please try to keep in mind that I am attached to all of my characters and I'm not planning on getting rid of any of them without using the story to kill them off or what have you. I got one review warranting a response, and it's a short one. "idiot you maybe": I like to give all of my readers a fair chance, and I listen to criticism as well as the next guy. You didn't criticize, you insulted. There were two factors at work during the fight with Gin; one was humanization. Naruto didn't call out to Gin screaming "Hey, you broke this many bones!" he told the reader. Regardless he took the punch and kept coming. Two, was hyperbole- and it forces me to wonder if you can actually understand what's being written if you can't grasp such a simple literary concept. Naruto Exaggerated when he made a reference to his dad. His inner form is a cynic in this story, after all. Rant over.**

**I also want to take a second here and say something about the overwhelming reader response. HOLY SHIT GUYS I LOVE ALL OF YOU. This story's only two chapters in and is running in on 100 followers. It's the best response I've ever gotten on a story, and you better believe my production speed is influenced by the fact you folks like my writing. On that topic, the switching between characters is still present, as are a few new mechanics. Inner Naruto gains an ability in this chapter, where he's able to hijack a person's psyche and force them to live through part of his life, when he does this, I'll write that character's point of view label in l33t speak. I'm also splitting up the chapter into parts, due to length. I feel that it'll help the tangibility of the things that are happening. Also, Lime, I'll bounce in, in Author's note mode to alert er'rybody who's uncomfortable to the beginning and end. I also altered Naruto's canon- Itachi dies before Orochimaru, and the retrieval mission. MORE ON THIS LATER. **

**Welcome to the break down!**

**-**_**Dead!**_

_**Point Of View Designation**_

**Bijuu/ Enraged Yōkai**

_Thought/ Emphasis_

Dialogue/ Narrative

Inner being – outer being communication.

_**1nc4n74710n 3ff3ct3d Ch4r4c73r:**_

**Chapter 3: **

**A Romance with Casualties.**

"_Out of the night that covers me,__  
__Black as the Pit from pole to pole,__  
__I thank whatever gods may be__  
__For my unconquerable soul.__"_

_-__**Invictus, William Ernest Henley.**_

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

**Part I; Produce Anyone?**

"_They said if you don't let it out, they're gonna let it eat you away, I'd rather be a cannibal baby, animals like me don't talk anyway."_

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Inner Naruto (Naiteki): Directly after sealing:**_

Drip. Drip. Drip. The world around me is black. Drip.

Drip.

Drip. Oh. Wait. My eyes aren't open. When did I fall asleep? I open them narrowly, and find that I'm in some sort of sewer system. _Oh, for the sake of shit._ I can't count on both hands how many times I've passed out and woken up in this hellhole. I stop, relax, and will myself to the waking world. Nothing happens.

"C'mon." I say. "Let me _out_." Nothing.

"Awaken!" Zilch.

"Mother-fucker, get up!" I close my eyes, shake a little, and open them again. Time goes on like this for a few hours. I even went as far as interpretive dance. Finally I realize that nothing's gonna happen. "Fine, then. I felt like going for a walk anyways." I take out a toothpick from the box in my pocket, and put it in my mouth, trudging forward. I walk in the dilapidated sewers for about an hour, finally reaching a fork in the road. There are three signs, reading:

**CHAKRA CORE**

**SECONDARY CORE**

**SOUL CORE**

And three paths leading off in directions pointed out by the signs. The first two I recognize, sign one leads to my actual Chakra reserves and sign two leads to the fox. Sign three, however, was not here on my last visit. I make the logical conclusion that the fucking demon is screwing with my life again. Time to pay him a courtesy call.

I trudge for what feels like a couple more miles until I hit a cage the size of your average office complex, inside is a mass of roiling fire, or what looks like it, to the untrained eye.

"Hey fur-ball, wake the fuck up!" I say, slamming on the bars. The fire rolls some more, and an eye the size of a house shifts into existence.

"Ah, the insolent human. Have you come to bow?"

"No, I'm not gonna bow. If that's why you brought me here then you might as well give up."

"What makes you assume it was me that brought you here, boy? Are you so insolent and stupid that you believe I am beholden to you?"

"You. Are in. A cage. It. Is in. My body. You lose. Get over it." The eye narrows and I sense killer intent so I leap back.

Just in time. Ivory claws slam down where I was standing five seconds ago, leaving a deep dent in the ground. "Fool! Do not presume that because I reside in this hell I am under your command! I am a Bijuu, a nexus of destruction! I-"

"Was beaten by a human? Sealed inside another human? Seriously dude, where do you get off being so full of pride? I die, you die. I survive and flourish, you survive and flourish. You're a part of _me_ now. Not the other way around." The Kyūbi's eye narrows further, and he begins to growl.

"Leave now, while I still allow it." It's obvious this is getting nowhere; I may as well follow the new trail myself. I turn around and begin to walk away.

"Fuck you too, you Chakra-Bloated Fleabag." I say, without looking back. What feels like two hours later, I get to the end of the new trail. What I see is rather surprising.

In front of me is a vast opening from the sewage system – all ablaze in a soft blue glow that looks to be the same shade as my necklace. I can't see anything past it, but as I am human I decide that _touching _this huge source of light is the best possible option.

It responds to my touch with a very fast, very tight ripple across the surface. And then suddenly I'm awake.

Sort of. We'll get this straight, I'm me, I'm here, and I can see everything that's going on. I get up, and walk out of the dark room that is the Chairman's office. As I exit, Mizore runs up and takes my arm.

And then I lose all control of my mouth. Nothing, nada, zero. I can't move my jaw. I'm in my body, I can see everything that's going on, right up to the point that Mizore runs away crying because some other force of nature is fucking up my life like that's its job.

And then I step _out_ of my body. I turn around, and look at the apparently new version of me. Or, more accurately, the old me. I look at myself, hard. Then look over to the secretary

"Can you believe this guy?" I say. She doesn't respond.

I walk up to her, waving around like a crazed fucking lunatic. Nothing. I really hope the amount of times I'm saying nothing is getting the point across. I have no input anymore. Apparently Kami saw it fit for this to happen. Naruto's life cannot and will not go as planned. I step back to the other me, still standing there scratching his head like the short-bus all star that he is. Suddenly all my memories from that day come back to me in a rush, and I realize that _he doesn't have them._ Not a split second past the time I exited the gates for Rice is in his memory. I walk up to him, place my hands on his cheeks and say "I dub thee, Stupid Naruto!" then I backhand him as hard as I can.

He screws up his face. Says 'Ow!'  and the necklace on his… our chest begins to float upwards toward his face.

"I knew I was stupid, but I didn't know I was this stupid…"

That was what… four hours ago now? I don't even know anymore. Ever since it's been this weird dreg of half-way in half-way out. I can feel and taste, smell and hear everything that goes on around me, through my nose, eyes, ears, and fingertips.

I ain't got shit for influence. It only took a little while for me and stupid to work out an alliance. I told him all about our time here, about how Sakura abandoned us and how Mizore quickly (too quickly?) became the girl in our life. He agreed that his dumb needed some fixin', and we figured out the ins and outs of talking to each other. Three hours, a succubus, and a song later and the both of us are headed to winter formal (sort of). I think I'll let idiot do the talking for a bit.

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Outer Naruto (Sotogawa); After winning Mizore over:**_

Mizore moves away from the window and a few minutes later she's stepping outside of the girls dorm with Kurumu. She looks at me, harshly, and I can't help but be reminded of how Anko-nēsan looks at me right after I pull a prank on her.

Which, of course, means she's mad. "You have two minutes to explain what you did before I freeze you to death." I rub the back of my head and laugh on instinct, as I do whenever I'm in a hard situation.

"Jeez, Mizore, don't you think that's a little harsh?"

"A minute and thirty seconds." My eyes open wide.

"Oh. Crap. I. It's not my fault I swear!" I'm sweating bullets now. I feel a jolt again, powerful enough to knock me off my feet, and when I sit back up my Necklace starts to float. "What the hell, Naiteki?!" _**(Literally, 'Intrinsic').**_Mizore cocks her head.

'Repeat after me, Sotogawa' _**(Outward)**_I swallow.

"What happened at the chairman's office was a misunderstanding. My mind wasn't used to my powers being separated from the Kyūbi's. When the seal was placed, my psyche broke in two, and the version of me that was more in sync with the Kyūbi was sealed away. I'm a partition, created so that the other me isn't the one that walks around in everyday life, and incidents like the one with Gin don't happen unless they absolutely have to."

She glowers at me. Even with this look on her face, I have to note that she's extremely beautiful. "Then why didn't you remember me in office? If that's all it is, I'll just freeze you and call it a day."

"I don't remember anything. I didn't even know where I was when I woke up. Everything I know about my time here I learned second-hand from Naiteki."

Her glower turns into a look of curious fascination. "Naiteki? A guy named Inner told you about me?"

"It's what we call each other. When we communicate with one another I call him Naiteki and he calls me Sotogawa." Her eyes narrow for a bit.

"You were a real jerk at the chairman's. If you're a different Naruto that doesn't mean you're innocent. You were kind of a Jackass."

"I don't believe in deception. Naiteki doesn't either, but at the time I didn't know what happened on my last mission. As far as I knew… The girl I used to love was still attainable."

The glower comes back. "So I'm just a second option?"

"No! Never! I'd never do that to anyone! She's not an option anymore. She's… gone." I look away and swallow. Naiteki showed me the memory to prove it to me once and for all, once I saw that Sakura took Sasuke up on his offer he cut it off and everything went black.

Mizore's looking at me with concern "what do you mean, gone?"

"She left me, my village, and her home for a traitor who wanted nothing more than vengeance. She gave up everyone who cared for her to become a means to an end." I can't help but feel the tears flow a little. I put a hand to my face, wipe, and growl. "Goddammit."

'Language, kid, we don't need two of me walking around, one fuck up is definitely enough.'

I see a faint image of Naiteki looking at me from beside Mizore. He's got bags under his eyes and a toothpick in his mouth, his hair is even scruffier and mismanaged, and our suit jacket is removed with our orange dress shirt rolled up to short sleeves. He's got a small smile gracing his face. A real smile. It's not a bad look…

"I'm sorry, this is supposed to be a fun night right?" I say, and hop onto the balls of my feet. I pick Mizore up, and swing her into a Fireman's Carry, and leap off towards the boy's dorm. At the peak of my first jump Mizore starts to squirm and beat her fists against my back.

"Put me down!"

"Nope!" I look behind us to see Kurumu with freshly sprouted wings, doing her best to keep up. I laugh maniacally. We get to the dorm in a little under five minutes.

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Tsukune:**_

For some reason, Kurumu doesn't arrive at the time she said she would, so I decide to give the seal Naruto gave me another shot. I sit cross legged (no small feat, in a suit) and stare at the seal on the paper, breathing deeply and trying to clear my mind. I've done this quite a bit over the past few days, and I've found with a large amount of concentration I can get the lines wavering at will. They swim, and I feel a little stronger inside, more alive. Doing it for more than five minutes leaves me exhausted. I keep pushing forward, trying to extend my best time. Tonight's different, though. I reach ten minutes, first time. It's not gonna be a good date for Kurumu, but hopefully I can stay alive with the help Naruto's giving me. There'll be more dates that way. The lines continue to swim, becoming more and more wavy. I start to see a faint image, but it's nothing I can make out and if I continue I won't be able to move at the dance, let alone actually _dance._

I stand up, grunting a bit as I do so, and walk towards the door to the hallway, opening it. As I step out, I notice that Gin's there in a tuxedo (he must have been discharged), and he approaches me.

"Hey man, what was that weird burst of energy I felt coming from your room?"

"You felt something from my room?" I turn back to see if anyone's tried to enter or actually did while I was meditating. No one's there. "I don't know." I say, but inside I'm cheering. If Gin's feeling some energy radiating from my room, I must be close to a breakthrough.

"Hn. I must be way up on guard from that tussle last week." He shakes his head, and slaps himself a little "Stop it Gin!" he barks. "You ready to go, man?"

"Sorry, Gin, I'm going with Kurumu. I'm sure someone else'll be your wingman tonight." He nods.

"Sorry about showing up then. It must've slipped my mind." His face flashes into a grin "Speak of the devil!" I turn to see Kurumu in a stunning black backless dress and high heels. Naruto and Mizore are right behind her. It might be the fact that Naruto keyed in on something and decided that he'd do me the biggest favor anyone's ever done for me, or the fact that Mizore's so lonely, but part of me really hopes that things work out for the two of them. And then there's the Aqua-haired peak of femininity in front of me. Kurumu waves.

"Hi Tsukune!" all of my words catch in my throat, but eventually I manage to cough out

"Shflate."

"Sorry." She says. Naruto steps forward, places my hand in Kurumu's, and puts his fist into the air.

Naruto seems to have returned an item to his dormitory, he steps next to Mizore, and with a bit of theatrics he starts the night. "Onward!" He yells, and taking Mizore's hand, he begins to make for the ground floor exit, marching. Is it me, or does he seem a whole lot happier?

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Mizore:**_

I've noticed two things in my time with outer Naruto – one, he's much more impulsive and brash than Inner Naruto, two, he's a lot cheerier as well. Normally in the snow village when a man does what Naruto's doing right now in public, it's considered improper and reserved for the wedding night.

Now, my family hasn't ever been one to care for the proper side of things, but from what I can see in him, Naruto's upbringing is even less conservative than mine. I'm still wondering what his childhood was like by the time we get to the auditorium. Over the course of the past few nights it's undergone a major transformation from gymnasium to fine restaurant. There are round tables, and elegant decorations spanned across the entire floor, with a lot of white cloth tassel, and snow decorations to remind us all that this is, of course, a winter formal. The whole thing is incredibly cheesy, but they've set out food and labeled our seats. We all sit where our names are printed, Naruto having purchased our tickets as a single item made sure that our seats were reserved next to each other. I pick at my meal, and notice Outer Naruto eating ravenously. Tsukune eats a lot more than I've seen him eat before as well, with Kurumu eating normally. Then there's the surprising members of our table. Moka is in a spaghetti strap dress the color of still flowing blood, and she's sitting to Gin's right. Somehow I can't help but feel he pulled strings. Yukari is sitting on Gin's left, and Tsukune's right. Kurumu on Tsukune's left, with Naruto on her right and my left, leaving me next to Moka.

She's not looking very happy for a girl who went stag, and I think the way Gin's leering at her might have a little more than nothing to do with it. Before I can speak up about it, the New Naruto sees Gin put his hands around Moka's shoulders, clears his throat and attacks the elephant in the room with a voracious ferocity. "Hey, uh… Black haired dude with the headband. I don't think that Moka feels comfortable with you touching her."

"What, so you remember her name, but not mine?" Gin asks, aloofly, with his arm still around Moka.

He grins, in our short time together I've come to realize that when he smiles this wide it's fake as hell, and he's hiding some other emotion. Usually it's sadness or anger.

"I don't know why I remember her name, but I do. And I can tell when a girl's uncomfortable with something. Though, usually, they end up hitting me first," he says, and I'm forced to wonder what he's talking about. "So how about you ask her if she wants your arm around her and your hand desperately trying to grasp things that don't belong to it? " his smile closes, and his eyes open. The warmth that's been in them all night is totally gone, replaced with a cool and emotionless demeanor. I've seen that shift in his eyes before. Gin's just gone from living thing to target for the second time in a week.

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Gin:**_

Just who the fuck does this prick think he is? The only reason he won that fight earlier this week is because of that weird power, and that's been sealed away. He's nothing to me, I'm an S-Class monster!

"And why should I take advice from someone like you?" He looks at me coolly, and I can't help but feel a little bit creeped out by his appraisal.

"You know, you remind me a lot of my best – actually, scratch that. He's not my best friend anymore. That probably goes to Shikamaru, now. He's got the same eyes as you. You can tell a lot about a person by the look in their eyes."

"Oh yeah? And what do you see in mine?" I say, not being able to keep my face straight. The look in a person's eye? What the hell is this crazy bastard going on about?

"I see an elitist. You want the best of the best. The most powerful techniques, the prettiest women, the most expensive toys. But there's a catch. You're not willing to work for any of it. Sure, you'll be loyal, and you'll put your life on the line, but only when you absolutely have to. You want the shortest path with the least resistance to the top. There's only one trouble with that, though. The short paths with no resistance all lead down hill. I've seen it happen. The guy I'm talking about…" he trails off for a bit, swallowing hard, looking down.

Playing sad.

"He left my village, and from what I can remember, he convinced the girl I loved to go along with him. When he first left, my friends and I went after him, facing fighters at least seven times stronger than we were. I was twelve, fighting off a fifteen year old who could make weapons out of his bones," I notice everyone at the table blanch. " And I only got away because a friend, who's a lot like a brother, decided that he wanted to emulate me. He chose me as the first person he'd ever fought for above himself. And when I got to the guy who left my village? Do you know how he thanked me and my friends for risking our lives? He broke most of my ribcage, punctured my lung, snapped both of my femurs, shattered most of my spine, and left. Just, poof. Gone. You have the same eyes, Gin. The same wants, in a roundabout way. But for you, it's not to late."

"And just where the fuck do you get off telling me that I'm like this guy? And for that matter, how do we know what you're saying is true?" He puts both hands on the table, and I can see everybody ping-ponging their views from him to me and back. Then one of the girls speaks up. It's not Mizore. That, I would have expected.

"It's true." Kurumu says, quietly "He showed us. The guy you're talking about, his name is Sasuke, isn't it Naruto?"

"Yeah." He doesn't stop glaring at me. "So Gin, I've told you what I see in your eyes, it's only fair that you tell me what's in mine." His stone hard gaze softens. Like a cloth veil being swept away from the face of a bride, suddenly I can see everything full and clear.

"Pain. A lot of pain." Everyone looks at me with angry snarls mounting in their throats. "What? It's true. I see a lot of pain, and loneliness there. Like, a statistically incredible amount. Dude, go back to how your eyes were before. It's making my bones itch, seriously." He laughs.

"So you do get the picture. That's good. I was beginning to think I'd have to beat it into you." Is this dude serious?

"Now, all of us can tell you like Moka, so just like me, why don't you try to put a new foot forward? You like the lady, ask her to dance." I regard him silently for a bit. If this guy has been through half of what he says he's been through, it's still enough to earn respect. He's worldly. I get the feel that a High-School is a setting that has quite a lot more diplomacy than he's used to, but he's using all the experiences he's had in the past and _thriving. _For some reason, the more I talk to this kid the more I start to think that my standing in the pack doesn't really matter. It's this thought process that leads me to where I go next.

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Mizore:**_

Gin removes his hands from around Moka's shoulders, reaching the same arm across the table.

"You know what, man, I don't think we should be fighting as much as we are. You have the right priorities. Strong, determined, and if even half of what you say is true you're loyal as all hell. What do you say we just put all this water under the bridge?" Naruto looks at Gin's hand quizzically for a second, nods and grasps it with his own, shaking firmly. Gin grins. Music starts to play almost just as soon as they finish their handshake.

"Alright, guys, now that all the dust has settled what do you say we hit the dance floor?" Gin says. Naruto cheers and bounces out of his seat, grabbing my hand once again.

"Naruto, wait, I don't know how to-" He laughs jovially

"Doesn't matter! Just follow my lead!" as we step into the area that's been railed off for the actual dance, music with heavy synthetic beats starts up. I've never been much for dancing, something about my body and music aren't compatible, and just can't move to it.

So I do a subtle sort of back and forth movement. Tsukune's moving to the rhythm, and Kurumu's dancing rather seductively. Moka is standing nervously on the edge of the floor, while Gin's off with another group of girls. Yukari isn't on the floor – she decided to stay at the table.

And Naruto's break dancing. On a professional level. He does a few moves that leave me wondering if he's really a mortal being.

And that's when he spins on his head like a top on its point. How am I supposed to follow this? It doesn't matter for very much longer, because after the end of the first song everyone forms a circle around Naruto and I can't see what he's doing anymore. I shift back to the dance floors edge. It goes on like this for a few more songs, and finally, a slow song comes up, with a lot of piano and bass. Every girl in the circle does her best to grab at Naruto, hoping to dance with him, I guess. He forces his way through all of his new groveling fans and walks up to me. Bowing at one knee, with a hand swung behind him, he offers another hand up to me, grinning from ear to ear. He seems so happy and in his element I don't even think when I take his hand.

He pulls me closer than I've ever been to a boy my own age, holds onto my hips and begins to simply sway back and forth. I don't know if there's a word for how this dance feels. Good doesn't justify it.

This pattern continues, a few fast songs come up, and he abandons me unintentionally. Then a slow song starts, he wades his way through grasping hands and we dance together. It goes on this way until midnight, and the D.J. calls out that this is the last song on the set list.

It's slow. The process repeats itself, and as we dance I can see the expression on his face shift from smile to frown. I don't think he's angry or anything, it looks more like he's in deep consideration of something. He blinks hard. Plucking my frost sucker from my mouth, he takes a deep breath, and leans downward with his eyes closed. Before I even realize it, he's kissing me, and the song is ending.

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Naruto:**_

After Naiteki and I decide that we should take the next step, he starts to have a panic attack. 'Don'tfuckthisupdon'tfuckthisupdon'tfuckthisupavoidthenoseandfo rshitsakedon'tpuckerohkamithisisn'tgoingtoendwellfuckfuckFUCK.' 

_Can you tell me when I lost all faith in myself? Besides, it's just a kiss, it's nothing hot and heavy, jeez._ I think, with my eyes still closed. A clear image of Naiteki appears in front of my eyes, and he's glaring daggers at me.

'At least I'm not retarded.' He says.

_I call it confidence. _

'Well, Mr. Confident, you may want to stop kissing her or you'll probably suffocate.'

_OH SHIT. _My eyes fly open, I swing away from Mizore and breathe as deeply as I possibly can. Maybe Naiteki's right, based on what just happened I might just be a little stupid. Gin's there, clapping me on the back in less than a second. I turn around to look back at Mizore, and grin sheepishly. The poor girl is a shade up from violet.

'Hey, look, another Hinata.' 

_Not the time, Naiteki. _I stand back up. "Sorry, I didn't mean – " she takes her sucker from my hand, puts it back in her mouth, and smiles. No demure shift of the lips, here, either, it's a real face splitter, and she's never looked better.

"Don't be." She says "Though you looked pretty stupid afterwards." She covers her mouth and giggles. I can't help but smile myself.

"What do you say we get out of here, huh?" I all but tackle the girl putting her into a Fireman's Carry, and move to the exit of the auditorium. She starts to squirm again, faster this time, but it's no good. I charge through the school grounds, and soon enough we're at the steps to the girl's dormitory, and I'm putting Mizore down. After she's got both feet on the ground every bit of confidence from before is out the window. I rub my hands together, and brush my nose with my index finger. "So…"

She looks back at me. "So?"

_This is going great!_

'… Do not open your mouth unless you're repeating after me.'

"Uh, where do we stand now?" I rub the back of my head, grinning like the idiot Naiteki and I have established I am. "Are we more than friends, did tonight not happen, what am I allowed to tell everyone I know?" She cocks an eyebrow, her intense blush from before is gone, and she smiles demurely again.

"I don't know."

_What. Do. _

'I'm torn between kissing her and choking the nearest male.' 

_This. Sucks._

'This is the game, my friend.' 

"What's the other you saying?"

"What do you mean?" I give her a look of pure innocence.

"Your shirt's glowing." She deadpans. I look down, and sure enough, the blue from the crystal is making my shirt shine a dull brown. I sigh.

"He said he's torn between kissing you again, and choking the nearest dude."

"How does it work exactly? I mean, you aren't exactly the Naruto I got to know, y'know? Does he know what's going on?"

"It's hard to explain. He says 'I'm half in, and half out. I get all the perceptive stuff, but I can't control jack shit because idiot here took the pilots seat without a license.'"

"So everything we do together, I do with him too?"

"I… uh, yeah." I gulp "I'm not real. If Naiteki and I leave school grounds the seal will deactivate and I won't exist anymore. Or I guess I will, to some extent, because now my mind is… This is confusing." I look back at Mizore, and notice her eyes widen

"Yeah, I guess so." Then I see her face slip into a slight smile that can only be described as sinister. "So, you mean that no matter what I say to you, the other you can hear it, but can't do anything?"

'Don't answer that question. I don't have much confidence left, kid.'

"Uh, yeah. Why?" I answer, and Naiteki squawks indignantly.

"Later. Is there any way I can talk to him in person?"

I scratch my head. This is the most embarrassing part of our whole fucked up time at this place and with things in the situation that they are… well there's that one old saying; no guts, no glory. "You're the only one that can talk to him in person at will. I think. I mean, I dunno."

"The only person that can talk to him at will?"

"When the Chairman came to seal our powers away, he said that the other me would have to choose a person that would be able to release the seal. He chose you." She nods, taking the information in better stride than I would've thought.

"Okay, so, how do I do it?"

"I'm not entirely sure. It could be by lifting the necklace off of my head, or something." Mizore moves to do so. It's a bit awkward because I'm like six inches taller than her, but just as she's about to remove it I get a massive electric jolt that knocks me on my ass.

'Just fuckin' yank the goddamn thing off! I don't give a shit about the cord, we can retie it after!'

"Ow."

"What did the other you say?"

"He said to just snap the cord. He got hurt, too, and he's kind of excited." Mizore grabs the Shodai's necklace by the attachments, being sure to wrap part of the strings around her fingers, and then she yanks as hard as she possibly can. The cord snaps, and I feel my mind fade out for a second.

Then I'm back. All of me is back. It's the strangest sensation, but I regain all of my memories in a rush and suddenly I'm me again. Sotogawa is now tightly packed into the back of my head, I guess. "Hey." I say, smiling gently.

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Mizore:**_

I take record of the subtle changes in Naruto's face – when I snapped the cord on the necklace, it immediately repaired itself. Bags under his eyes that were gone returned, and his hair somehow became less managed than it was before. He's still wearing his suit, but his jaw is now lined with a fine blonde stubble. He looks like a mob hit man who's seen too much.

"So are you, like, the other Naruto?"

"Yep. Congratulations, you've now had the experience of knowing the idiot I used to be." Mizore's fidgeting with the Shodai's Necklace, and she's still in her formal dress. "So what was it you wanted to talk about?" I ask.

"Well, you're the you I know best and I kind of needed to see how you'd react to this. And before you ask, it has to do with your question from before. Remember how I said that the Yūki-Onna have small families because we're only fertile for a really short time?"

"Yeah."

"That's where what I'm about to say comes into play. Because of the issues with fertility my race is having, we've sort of centered our society on the production of children. We're on the decline, and so at the age of seventeen we're required to take a husband and start having children immediately."

"So we're only allowed to be together until we're seventeen?"

"Well… sort of. By law, in my village I'd be required to take a spouse, but if I find a guy I like before then, I'm allowed to marry him."

"S-so you mean, if we were to date, and then you hit seventeen, and I, and –"

"Yes." He promptly fainted. I stuff his necklace into one of his suit jacket pockets, but as I'm picking him up he starts to stir.

"Mizore, what're you doing?" he asks

"I was going to take you up to my room until you recovered." He smiles, I can see cogs working in his head. I've never met a guy who can turn a situation around as fast as Naruto can. "I'm still feeling a bit woozy. Help me up?"

I drop him like a red hot iron. "I spent hours with you every day for a week and a half, do you think I know you so little that I can't tell when you're just trying to be clever?"

"Ow." He gets to his feet and stands, taking my hand. "Is the invitation still open?" I consider for a bit. It's honestly hard for me to decide just what kind of relationship this'll end up being. It could be the best thing that's ever happened to me – I've already encountered evidence of the 'unfreezing' when I'm around him, but it's still too early to tell for sure, and if it doesn't work out it's a waste of precious time.

"Why do you like me?"

"Shit." He drops my hand. "Goddammit. I suck at this." He says, and then sighs. "I guess, it's because we feel compatible, y'know? That's the best way I can describe it. Ever since I was a kid I've had a gut sense with people. Who to trust, who to hate, who to form rivalries with until they gut you. That kind of thing."

"Nothing else?"

"Well, your looks are a factor."

"Clumsy. My race is known for their appearance Naruto."

"I said I sucked at this, didn't I?" He swallows, and fidgets with his hands for a bit. "My biggest reason is probably the fact that you know what being truly alone feels like. I know a few people like that already – Anko-nēsan, Kakashi-Sensei, a few others – trouble is, they're all older than me, they lost their parents or their loved ones to war, and then the Kyūbi having a piss fit in the middle of the village kind of fucked things. I was the only kid my age that didn't get jack until it was always either almost too late or too late all together. Honestly, Mizore, you're the first thing to happen in my life at the _right _time." I can feel blood creep to my face

"You really feel that way, don't you?"

"Yeah." He says. His voice sounds rather sad. I walk towards the dormitory, leaving him standing in front of the door. As I enter, I turn around.

"Are you coming, or not?" we cross the threshold, entering the lobby, crossing it to the hallway that leads to the stairs. As we head up to my room on the third floor, I ask him one of the big questions I still have left. "where do you see this going? Between us I mean. We've only known each other for like, a week."

"Two weeks. But your point is still valid. I don't know where we're headed as an item, Mizore, but isn't that one of the points of being a couple? To see what comes next? I'll make you a deal. I'll keep life interesting for the both of us if you can deal with my stupidity, alright?" Just like him. His confidence is contagious. We get to the door of my room, and he pulls me into a kiss…

_**(WAIT, WAIT, WAIT! STOP THE TAPE! THIS IS WHERE CITRUS BEGINS! I recommend listening to Panic!'s "Time to Dance". OKAY! NOW GO! GO, ROLL THE TAPE!).**_

I open the door, clumsily, my attention being stolen by my new boyfriend, and we enter my dorm, him stumbling forward, and me stumbling back. Naruto gets a bit more aggressive than I'm comfortable with, trying to get the kiss to go deeper than just and extended face-mashing. I refuse, and so he takes a different tact. I continue to stumble back with him, until we hit a wall, and he takes his lips away from mine, moving south and latching them onto my throat. It reminds me of what Moka did to Tsukune all those times I was watching. I feel fire course through my neck, but it's not painful – just warm, and it feels very pleasant. I never expected to be necking on the night of my first kiss, but I can tell that this relationship is going to be full of shattered expectations. I just don't want to be the one on the surprised side all the time. I knit my fingers through his hair, wrapping the whole mismanaged length around my palms, pulling him off my neck.

As he looks up to me, I can see his eyes clouded with surprise and more than a little lust. I smash his face into mine, smiling into the kiss. We start to go deeper, biting each others lips, running hands through hair, I take my turn at his neck, being sure to leave notice to any girl out there that he's taken. Things hit a pause, and I decide to talk. "Can I take your jacket?" I say, with him still pushing me against a wall. He snorts, and we both end up laughing our heads off. He walks back to the closet, throwing off his shoes, and as he's removing his Jacket, I unroll the Futon. Then I step into the side room, and wait. I keep a watchful eye, and he notices the Futon's been unrolled, and that I seem to have vanished. He's not the only one who's going to keep things interesting. I move behind him as quietly as I can, and then I cough a little. As he turns, I move forward as fast as I can, getting the expected result. "Mizore? What are you-whoa!" he stammers as I tackle him on to the futon. We land almost perfectly in position, him with his back on the futon, me straddling his waist. I look down at him, smiling lightly. He raises his hand like we would in class "Ms. Shirayuki, I have a question."

I cock an eyebrow "Yes Naruto?"

"What happened to the shy girl I just went to formal with?"

"Didn't you know, Mr. Uzumaki? It's always the quiet ones." I respond, leaning in and kissing at his neck again. He squirms under me, and I can tell we're both thankful for the friction, he starts to run his hands along my back, all while I'm still biting at the junction between his neck and his shoulder. I move around his neck and clavicle slowly, and at one point I hit a spot that makes him inhale sharply. I remove my mouth and look at it, noticing that it's a small mass of scar tissue – which according to our anatomy text books is kind of sensitive – I attack it softly, kissing it and nuzzling it. I start to feel warmth radiate from my core.

"D-damn." I stop, and look up at him quizzically. "Just…" He trails off, mumbling incoherently.

"What?"

He looks at me, blushing a bit. "That was one of the best feelings I've ever experienced." I prod at the scar. A little, not hard, just a bit of a poke…

_**(CITRUS IS DONE, YOU CAN STOP FAPPING NOW). **_

He looks at me. "What is it, Mizore?"

"Can you tell me what happened here?"

He looks me in the eye for a few seconds. "…Sure." He puts his head back down, and embraces me while I'm lying on top of him. "You remember the day we met, when I said I fought an ice user once? And how they kicked my ass?"

"Yes."

"That person was named Haku – I was never entirely sure whether or not they were a guy or a girl, but they were the person that did that."

"Where does this person live in your world?"

"They don't, anymore. I killed him. Well, Kakashi killed him. I helped though."

"How?"

"You're getting inquisitive now, aren't you? It was my first real mission outside of my village. We were supposed to protect a guy named Tazuna, he was building a bridge to connect his homeland with the mainland, and help get a massive criminal organization off their backs. Haku, and his master, Zabuza were hired by the other side," he sighs "I met Haku face to face for the first time after I spent all night training, learning how to walk up trees, and other vertical surfaces. He was looking for herbal remedies to help Zabuza heal after my team and I whooped him good. A week later, I was left at Tazuna's house to protect his grandson and daughter while my team protected him and the workers at the bridge. I beat the troops that Gatō, the criminal leader in their homeland sent after them. After that, I ran like hell to the bridge, finding the worst member of my team at that time as the only one helping the client. My teacher was toe to toe with Haku's master, and my other teammate, the same guy that would grow up to gut me later was dying at Haku's feet. Haku was doing this weird thing where he'd make a dome of reflective ice, and warp between the different segments that reflected him. As he did so, he'd throw senbon -really long needles- made of ice at me and my teammate. That's where all the scars around my neck came from. Haku was a really accurate shot, and pretty much every hit was on a nerve cluster that made my arms like limp noodles."

"So how'd you beat him?"

"He faked killing my teammate, and I lost it. Totally destroyed his face with a punch and then, just as Kakashi was about to kill Zabuza with a ball of lightning, Haku jumped in front of Zabuza, taking the hit." We talk a bit more, him telling me a couple more war stories, and the night winds down with us negotiating our status with each other, eventually coming to the conclusion that we would make our relationship public when the next class rolled around. With that, Naruto retrieves his Necklace from his suit jacket and looks at me. "It's after curfew." He says "Mind if I crash here? I don't plan on being killed by awful things just yet."

"No problem." He goes into the side room. A few moments later, I hear a thump coming from that direction, I think replacing his necklace caused him to pass out. I go to my closet, retrieving a night gown and change out of my formal-wear, laying down on the futon again. As I drift off to sleep, I'm struck by the urge to sneak into the side room and sleep next to him, but I resist.

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

**Part II: A Fox on Either Side**

"_I'ma be what I set out to be, without a doubt, undoubtedly." _

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Inner Naruto (Naiteki):**_

The weekend passed in a kind of haze. We found out that Sotogawa remembered everything that happened between Mizore and I after he woke up the next morning, and so the two (three?) of us became even closer, not having to explain things again. It seems that the only real difference between Sotogawa and I are the fact that the mission to Rice finally put me past the traumatic threshold_**A/n: (the point at which awful experience overcomes a person's psyche)**_, and I can use the Kyūbi's Chakra. He tried drawing on it to train Sunday, during a brief respite from our time with Mizore. Didn't work. Monday loomed in, and during first class we had a math test. I helped Sotogawa as best I could, but there were experiences I wasn't expecting. Moka, one of the girls that's after Tsukune like flies after honey is in my math class, and, during the test, I noticed a silver haired girl with eyes just like the Kyūbi's standing behind her, breathing over her shoulder. I snapped my head back and forth between the girl and Ms. Ririko a few times, finally saying;

"Well, if she's not gonna notice, I'm not gonna say anything." My speaking catches the silver-haired girls attention, she looks up at me kinda startled. I rub my eyes, with my left forefinger and right thumb, wondering how she noticed me. I open my eyes again, and she's standing in front of me.

"And just who might you be?" she asks, a bit snidely. I decide off the bat that I probably won't like this girl.

"You first, I figure you already know a secret of mine. Though I did catch you cheating on the test."

"Cheating? I was merely helping myself with questions, just as you were a moment ago. Though you seem to be more in tune with your outer self than I. Tell me, are you really like that blathering idiot?" Nope. Don't like her.

"Helping yourself? What are you talking about?"

"I am Moka Akashiya, the _true_ Moka Akashiya, upstart. I would ask your name, but I already know it." I cock an eyebrow.

'Naiteki! A little help here?!' I look over at Sotogawa's test paper.

"2x – 37 is the next step, kid." I say, looking back to the Moka I never knew.

"So tell me, what brings you to my domain?" she says.

"Dude put me in a flashback, so I accidentally accessed the Kyūbi's chakra and mauled his ass." She laughs outright.

"Though I can't say you're cultured, I give your sense of humor credit. A Border Being containing a demon lord? Rich." Bitch be gratin' on my nerves.

"I assure you, it's the truth." She cocks her head, her smile gone.

"Really then? Perhaps you wouldn't mind," she reaches her hand out to my forehead, and the classroom vanishes. "Showing me." Suddenly we're in my mindscape.

"Oh, great, this is awesome. I hate this place when I'm knocked unconscious. You brought me here on your own power." I glare at her "Seriously, fuck you man."

"I have to say, I've never seen a mindscape so dreary."

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Inner Moka: **_

I take us to the boy's mindscape, and he curses me outright. As such I have decided that he does not deserve the courtesy of a name. I will call him Upstart.

"I have to say, I've never seen a mindscape so dreary."

The upstart looks at me in mild anger "This a hobby of yours? Hijacking yourself into other peoples bodies?" he says.

"You must be either very brave, or very stupid to speak to me in such a manner."

He snorts in derision. "I'm both." He says. I walk forward into what appears to be a sewer.

"Normally, the scenery in a mindscape is formed by childhood experiences." At this, the Upstart stops, one eyebrow raised, looks around for a little bit, and starts to trudge forward once more.

"Yeah, seems about right." He says. _Right? _I think _Did he not have anyone to care for him?_ I hear the thoughts echo around the mindscape before I remember that thoughts in a mindscape are heard as if over a P.A. system. Normally this isn't a problem, because my thoughts are dismissed as tangents a person reaches randomly, but the Upstart is here with me, he heard everything.

"One person. An older sister, kind of, but she was a shinobi, and out on missions all the time. Unfortunately for me, I contained a being that destroyed a pretty huge amount of my home town." The upstart stops at a fork in the tunnel system, looking at a series of signs. "Huh. Usually a longer walk. Well, whatever," He looks back at me "He's to the right." He turns the way he said he would, walking forward. It's only another short walk until we're standing before a massive cage. Inside is what appears to be a gargantuan inferno. The Upstart steps forward, slamming on the bars of the cage barbarically.

"Hey, dickhead, wake up! We have company!" I gawk at the boy. Not only is he telling the truth, but he's also being disrespectful of the king of demons. My thoughts are cut short, as a massive eye rolls open, and it scrutinizes the Upstart.

Upstart looks at me, gesturing with his hands. "Fox-face, Moka, Moka, The voice in my gut." The gargantuan eye looks at me, and a snout appears. It moves up and down, with a large passage of air.

"Ah, a Vampiress. It's been a long while since I've seen one of your kind, lass." Following the rules demanded of me since childhood, I take a knee to the Lord in front of me. His eye moves from me to the upstart.

"Do you see, boy? She willingly gives me the respect you owe me." He says. The upstart is quick to reply.

"I don't owe you jack fuck. You killed my parents, destroyed a huge part of my homeland and stole my childhood, you prick." I stay on one knee, but I cannot help but stare wide-eyed at the Upstart. Ivory claws slam through the bars of the cage, but the Upstart seems to know of the Lord's ire.

"Milord, is he always this disrespectful?" Before lord Kyūbi can respond, the Upstart begins to laugh. It soon reaches guttural levels, and he's snorting and guffawing while looking at the both of us. "May I stand, lord?"

"Yes, lass." I stand up, and look the upstart directly in the eye.

"And just what, might I ask, is so funny?" I say, poking him in the chest.

"You idiots. You're goddamn hilarious." He says, releasing a few lingering laughs and wiping a tear from his eye.

"You are in the presence of a being a thousand times greater than yourself! Show some respect!"

He shakes his head, derisively. "You highborn pricks are all the same. Like it or not, Grandma here can't break that seal without my help, can she? He's got no way to the outside world, and what he sees from me is his only link. He dies if I die, and he stole any semblance of a normal childhood from me. He's a part of _me _now, not the other way around. I am not his extension, and his pride, the pride you both seem to share, is blinding him to the fact that, like it or not, he serves _me _now."

"Insolent child! You know not whom you speak to!" Milord bellows

"Oh, I know very well who I'm speaking to. I just don't fear you."

"Milord, is what the Upstart says true?"

he looks at me, his gaze softening. "In what respect, lass?"

"Is your life linked to his? If he dies, do you die as well?"

"Unfortunately, yes." I look from Milord, back to the upstart.

"Then… what he says is true. Your best tactical, choice, Milord, is to help this disrespectful shell of a man." He looks at me, his gaze filling with a small mite of anger.

"Explain yourself, girl."

"I have not known this boy long, but it seems he is not only stupid, but also completely willing to throw himself headlong into deadly situations. If you wish to keep him alive, and by extension, yourself alive, the best way to do so is to grant him power. I suggest giving him clan status, so that your imprisonment by him isn't as embarrassing."

"You bring up interesting points girl…" His gaze softens, and he looks to the upstart. "Fine then. A trial shall be put forth. I will begin the induction ceremony, but you will earn your first tail on your own power. If you succeed, I will acknowledge your strength, and welcome you not only to my species, but my family."

"And if I don't?"

"We both die. I admit, it's not the best bet I've made with someone, but I have to give you a begrudging bit of respect for your courage." I see a large mouth full of teeth. "And so it begins." The Kyūbi barks a few times, and The Upstart rises into the air.

A few seconds later, he begins to scream.

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Outer Naruto (Sotogawa):**_

I run into a few more questions that I can't answer, but something's happened to Naiteki and he isn't talking to me anymore. The test ends in a failure. I walk out of the class with my head hanging low, when I notice Mizore walking nearby. Which isn't really logical, considering the class she's supposed to be in right now is across school grounds. I whip my head in the direction of the Mizore look alike, but they're gone. When I extend my presence to check out my perimeter, I'm surprised. I actually sense Mizore's signature. I decide that I'll have to sneak up on her to actually see her. A few minutes later, I approach her from behind, as she's whipping her head between two the intersection I was previously at. Bringing, up a hand, I grab her shoulder. "Hey."

"Yeaah!" she yells out in surprise, blasting me with air that can't be above absolute zero.

"C-cold." I say "That was cold." Shivering a little.

She notices that it's me, and lets out a high pitched noise that sounds a little like "eep!" then she starts to freak out. "SorrysorryIdidn'tmean-" I hold out my hand.

"It's alright." I grate out "S-since we're both in Ms. Nekonome's class next, do you want to walk together?" I shiver a bit against my will. She blushes, looking down and away, with both of her hands latched onto books near her waist. _If only Pervy-Sage could see me now. _

"Sure." As I step forward, she takes my arm like she always does. While we're walking, I notice a few girls sending glares in her direction.

"What did you do to all these girls to make them hate you?" I hate these looks.

"I got close to you."

"What are you talking about? That's crazy." She looks at me seriously for a few seconds, apparently growing to accept the fact that I haven't put two and two together.

"Is it? Your first day here, you beat an S-class monster so badly that it garnered interest from the chairman. Not only that, but you have the reputation of a bad-boy with complete and utter disregard for the rules around campus. You can dance, and sing. And your whisker marks make you quite cute." She says all of this in one breath. _Am I really that kind of person?_

Another girl walks by, glaring at Mizore. I stick my tongue out at her, and Mizore laughs. I ask another question. "What were you doing outside my last class? Your class is halfway across school."

"It's just part of my culture. When Yuki-Onna find someone they care for, they keep an eye on that person to make sure they're alright. You don't need to worry about my class work, I didn't even go to school for the first semester, but I still managed."

"Y-you don't need to do that for me…" I begin to say, but she puts her other hand up to stop me.

"I want to." Before I can respond, we're in Ms. Nekonome's class, we take our seats, and Ms. Nekonome begins to teach. Not fifteen minutes pass before a group of people with long black coats and white arm bands walk in to the room. One of them, the one in front, with long orange-blonde hair is grinning evilly. He's holding a copy of the newspaper, open to Mizore's article. He approaches Tsukune, and without ceremony, he says

"Tsukune Aono?"

"Yes?"

"You are under arrest, the charge is suspicion of being a human." They take Tsukune from the class, no one protesting even the tiniest bit (I don't count murmurs as protest) , aside from Moka and Kurumu – a girl with dark purple hair and yellow eyes speaks sardonically.

"This is what you trash get, for printing these lies about us!" She slams her own copy of the newspaper down on Kurumu's desk, it, too, is open to Mizore's article. I get up to help Tsukune, but Mizore grabs my hand.

"I can see the look in your eye, Naruto, you can't fight all of these people – especially alone with know foreknowledge of what they can do. We'll help Tsukune, but we have to wait." I sit back, gritting my teeth when I notice a red haired girl with a Bō staff hanging back to make sure no one follows. I sift through Naiteki's memories and find what I'm looking for, being sure to get a solid beat on her energy signature.

As she leaves, a plan starts to form. I turn to Mizore. "Hey, would you be able to get into the copy room and laminate something?"

She cocks her head to the side a little "Sure, why?"

"They arrested Tsukune for being human, right? I wanna make sure they get charged with unjust arrest." I say, the smallest of villainous smiles playing on my lips. "We attack at dusk."

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Tsukune:**_

I'm escorted away from the class, to the protest of Moka, Yukari, and Kurumu. It's not long before we arrive at a dingy cell, and I'm thrown inside. Kuyou, the person who put me under arrest stares at me intently. "Well, Tsukune? What say you in your defense? All you have to do is change into your monster form, and the charges will be dropped. What's the matter?" I stare at him, and I notice the newspaper – I get a fleeting glimpse of the article he's holding it open to _"it takes no more than a cursory glance to discover the true colors of the Student Police Committee. They are no more than a group of Yakuza wearing different uniforms." _Looking at Kuyou fills me with a bit of apprehension and more than a little fear. But then I think of the friends I've made at the academy. Moka-san, Kurumu-Chan, Mizore, Naruto, Yukari, and Gin.

"Are you really attacking me because of a newspaper article I didn't even write?"

"What I am doing," Kuyou pauses and sneers "Is putting trash in its place. I will carry out your sentence in the morning, Tsukune. That is, unless you spontaneously gain a second form." Kuyou walks out calmly, and the other Student Police begin to leave one by one, except for one member, a really burly guy, who I guess is the guard. What seems like hours later, a red-haired girl with a Bō walks in, carrying a tray full of food.

"I'm here to relieve you." She says, smiling. Something about her seems familiar, and I can swear that I've met her before. The burly guard grunts and walks off, and she turns to me. "You should really eat Tsukune-kun. It'll help you keep your strength up. And besides, this meal comes from a friend." She opens the door a little, and places the tray inside. I refuse the food for a few moments, and she says "Well, go on Tsukune. You're going to need the energy for the fight tomorrow." I look her in the eye again, and I notice a minor detail's off. When I was arrested, this girls eyes were the same shade of brown as mine.

Now they're cerulean. I eat the food as fast as I can, and once the tray's cleaned, I look down at it. There's a laminated copy of the drawing Naruto gave me to meditate with. I look back to the girl that gave me the food, but she's gone, and the room seems to be filled with a light smoke.

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Inner Naruto (Naiteki):**_

The Kyūbi barks, I start to float, and then? Pain, not the worst I've ever felt, but definitely not the least. It's bad. All of my body is burning, my bones seem to be breaking and reknitting and my skin feels like it's being ripped off.

And then I'm gone. I'm in a huge plain, filled with snow, and my body isn't mine. I'm supported on four legs, and the cold is only slight. I don't know what my goal is, I don't know what's going on. My tail swishes behind me, meditatively.

Yeah, you heard right. My tail. I'm in the body of a fox. Instinctively, I raise my nose to the air, snuffling rapidly, and a smell hits me from the west. There's wood smoke, and hard candy. I didn't even know hard candy had a smell. Deciding that following that scent is my best shot, I trudge westward, continuing to walk until the sun starts to dip. My survival training from the academy kicks in, and I dig a small hole under a tree, curling up and falling asleep. As I sleep, I dream about the mission in rice.

The last day I was me. It starts with us staring up at Sasuke. Sakura, Sai, Yamato, and I. I can't hear anything anyone's saying, it's all covered up by Anko-nēsan's voice.

"_Out of the night that covers me,__  
__Black as the Pit from pole to pole,__  
__I thank whatever gods may be__  
__For my unconquerable soul."_

Sasuke's mouth opens to those awful words. "While I might not have use for the village anymore, I'm certain that we could be a team again." He looks over to Sakura "I've heard that you were apprenticed under Tsunade, I could use a medic."

Sakura quivers a little "A-are you sure?"

"Yes."

___"In the fell clutch of circumstance__  
__I have not winced nor cried aloud.__  
__Under the bludgeonings of chance__  
__My head is bloody, but unbowed."_

Sakura's leapt up to join Sasuke now, I remember this argument, her begging with me, pleading for me to see his twisted form of reason. I wouldn't have any of it. Finally, Sasuke puts and arm out to Sakura, stopping her. "I've also heard news of you, Naruto. I'll make you a bet. If you can defeat me, I'll go back to the village with you."

"Fine then! I'll beat you and take you both back to the village with me!"

"There's one caveat. Your Comrades stay out of it." He leaps down, and draws his sword. He's on me, lightning fast, lacerating my body with his sword, a strange purple being seems to be holding Sai and Yamato back from helping me. I fight, harder than I've ever fought before, and when all is said and done, I lose.

He always was a prodigy.

___"Beyond this place of wrath and tears__  
__Looms but the Horror of the shade,__  
__And yet the menace of the years__  
__Finds, and shall find, me unafraid."_

The strange purple force around my friends dissipates, and Sasuke looks at them, Sharingan active, holding his hands in a genjutsu seal, and yells. "Magen: Kasegui no Jutsu!" My friends fall to their knees Struggling against restraints that don't exist. He looks at my paralyzed form, laughter ringing in his throat. "Do you see what camaraderie gets you?" he says, and he stalks over to both Yamato and Sai, forming a single hand seal, he screams "Susanoo!" that same purple thing forces me upright, holding me in perfect view, and blocking Sakura off from what's happening. Sasuke stands next to Yamato, and without any form of remorse stabs his wakizashi into Yamato's throat.

"No, Sasuke, stop! You don't need to do this!" He starts to laugh.

"This is only the beginning you fool!" he yells, at the top of his lungs. And with that, he uses his sword to behead Sai. He stalks over to me, with a sense of twisted purpose in his steps, he says "Your village is going to pay for what it did." And slashes me hard across the stomach, with the same sword that killed Sai and Yamato. "Go back, Jinchūriki." He whispers in my ear "Go back, and tell them how you failed to retrieve the last Uchiha." I can tell he cut through most of my abdominal muscles, revealing the organs that they protect. I pass out, waking up in a puddle of my own blood and vomit. It's dusk, Sakura and Sasuke are gone, and Buzzards are picking at the bodies of my former teammates. I stumble to my feet, the wound is closed, but the internal damage has yet to be repaired. The rest of my memories are hazy, I'm on a trail, walking civilian-speed. I'm in a town, I'm at the village gates. Then everything goes black.

___"It matters not how strait the gate,__  
__How charged with punishments the scroll.__  
__I am the master of my fate:__  
__I am the captain of my soul."_

When I come to, I'm in Anko-nēsan's apartment, and she's sitting over me, crying. On my other side are Inoichi Yamanaka and his daughter. "We've repaired all of the damage that we possibly could." I hear him say, keeping my eyes just open, a trick we learned in the academy. "Ino now knows more about this boy than she ever did, and he should be regaining consciousness soon." I hear Ino sniffle.

"I'm so sorry, Anko. If I had known I…"

Anko-nēsan gives a teary "Thank you." And they leave. I open my eyes fully, and gulp.

"I… I failed Nēsan." And with that, I'm back in the plain, and the sun has risen. I continue to trudge towards that Camp fire/hard candy smell. It takes eight more days to get where I'm going, each night I sleep, reliving an awful part of my life, that poem recurring in the dreams over, and over again. Each day I walk onward. On the ninth day, I arrive at a beautiful village made almost entirely out of ice and snow, with an aurora blazing in the sky. I stare out at the village for a few minutes, and then I head forward. The more I walk, the more the view deteriorates, it wavers, and ripples, and then there's me, floating, outside the cage. My ears have sharpened to a point, my mouth, still contorted in a scream, has canines that are quite a bit longer than they used to be. As I approach my body, fire starts to flow out of my ass, the closer I get, the longer and more flowing the fire becomes. Finally, I reach my body, and I'm seeing through my eyes again. I have a single tail, made of pure flame.

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Inner Moka: **_

Before my eyes, the Upstart screams, droning on for what seems like hours. And then, without warning, the screaming ceases, and he drifts, slowly, to his feet, a single tail of pure white flame flowing behind him. He glares out at the Kyūbi, his eyes full of malice and despise. The Kyūbi looks back at him, his eyes fill with mirth.

"So you did it, eh lad? I knew you had it in you."

"You knew I had it in me? What did I have in me, exactly? A fuckton of piss awful memories?" the Kyūbi rolls his eyes.

"You truly know not who you speak to. Tell me boy, what was your first incantation?"

The upstart stares back at him, no forfeit in his gaze. It seems that no matter what this boy goes through, he is always full of resolve. "I don't have a clue what you're talking about."

"During your journey, did you encounter any repeated words? Did you hear someone say something over and over again? For in that, lies the true power of the Yōkai Kitsune. This was my plan all the long, lad. Be happy that your friend the Vampiress here helped me to see reason." The Upstarts eyes fill with questions.

"Your plan?" he says.

"First, tell me your incantation, son." I stare at Milord, not trying to hide my reaction. He looks to me.

"Are you surprised, Vampiress? I have adopted this boy in clan and name. He is as much my son to me now, as my blood kin. In fact, watching him grow, I've formed a kind of attachment to his crude demeanor." The upstarts ire starts to rise.

"Then… Then why-"

"I am a Bijuu, lad. I demand respect. I was waiting for you to take a knee, but the girl here brought your own pride to my eyes. And now, as I have asked three times, let us not continue our conversation until you recite your incantation."

The upstart opens his mouth, and I feel an archaic energy begin to flow.

"_Out of the night that covers me,__  
__Black as the Pit from pole to pole,__  
__I thank whatever gods may be__  
__For my unconquerable soul._

_In the fell clutch of circumstance__  
__I have not winced nor cried aloud.__  
__Under the bludgeonings of chance__  
__My head is bloody, but unbowed._

_Beyond this place of wrath and tears__  
__Looms but the Horror of the shade,__  
__And yet the menace of the years__  
__Finds, and shall find, me unafraid._

_It matters not how strait the gate,__  
__How charged with punishments the scroll.__  
__I am the master of my fate:__  
__I am the captain of my soul."_

"'Tis fitting." Lord Kyūbi speaks, softly.

"What do you mean?" The Upstart replies.

"Your power relates to your past. Your memories are what will effect your enemy, or your ally, depending on what powers you gain. It seems the spell that flows through this first tail allows you to test the mettle of an enemy against ours."

"Ours? These aren't _your_ memories, Fur-ball. They're _mine_."

"Do you think this seal so poorly made that it only connects us in one regard? I was there with you, boy. I felt every cut, burn, and contusion. Saw every hateful gaze, watched as children who would become friends were shooed away by parents. I know your pain boy, and I am sorry for it." The Upstarts eyes fill with shock.

"Then why?"

"To make you a man. The things you endured in childhood gave you will, they made you strong, and forged your spirit. The things you saw as warrior slowed you down, made you humble, and forced you to think. You had the comforting hand of a mother in young Anko Mitarashi. By allowing you to feel pain, I've given you the harsh hand of a father." The upstart looks down.

"I'm not going to bow."

"I wouldn't ask that of my heir." Lord Kyūbi steadily surprises me. He looks again in my direction. "In my absence, the Kitsune clan and her allies have grown arrogant and snide. While they are entitled to their pride, they are not entitled to the respect of others and should not demand it without earning it. The kit is obviously the best choice to teach them this." The Upstart snorts.

"That's kind of hypocritical, don't you think?

"It may be. I was a king without subjects after all." He looks back down at the upstart "You may even teach me a thing or two, lad."

**-XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX-**

_**Tsukune:**_

I stare at the drawing, not breaking my gaze. I keep my thoughts clear, and immediately the lines around the circle begin to wave, and an image comes in full and clear. It's a moving picture of me standing in front of Moka, between her and a monsterized Saizou, arms outspread with a determined look on my face. The image changes, this time I'm standing between a transformed Moka and Kurumu-chan. Again, the image changes, I'm in the same stance, between Yukari and the Lizard-men. My Nindō. I'll do anything to protect my friends. Even if it means dying. Suddenly, I feel a blast of energy radiate from my core. I feel as full of energy as I did when I was a kid, running around the park. I look back at the drawing, and watch, amazed, as the ink on the paper shifts. There's a diagram of different hand gestures, followed by a note.

"_So you did it. Good job, kid. Enclosed is the first Jutsu I learned at the academy. Even though I never learned it, what you've got here is the Bunshin. An illusory art that makes fake copies of you. You need to learn it to be convincing. Good luck! – Advice Columnist."_

I start to laugh; either at the fact that I actually succeeded or the fact that a guy the same age as me is calling me kid in a magic note, I don't know. It draws the attention of the guard on duty, and he approaches my cell. I hide the note just in time. The guard slams his fists on the bars.

"Quiet down in there!" I let out a few lingering laughs, and bring myself to a hault.

"Sorry."

"Yeah, yeah, just shut up!" The guard eyes me for a bit and walks away grumbling. It could be my imagination, but I think my senses are a bit sharper, too. I begin to follow the instructions on the paper, shifting my hands into the signs slowly at first, and calling out the Jutsu quietly. I continue the process, and speed up. It's amazing how fast you can learn something when your life depends on it – by what I'm now sure is midnight, I have three perfect copies of myself staring back at me. I go to bed, sleeping soundly despite knowing what I'll face tomorrow. I awaken to an angry Kuyou slamming on my cell bars. He notices me wake up, and stops.

"You were sleeping rather soundly for a dead man." in response I look up at him and begin to laugh again. Above us, at the stairs, I can hear multiple sets of fast paced footsteps.

"And, just what, is so funny?"

"After this? I'd be surprised if your whole organization wasn't officially disbanded." Kuyou slams on the bars again, his face leering next to mine.

"And why would we be disbanded for executing a human?" I smile

"Simple. I'm not human." I flash through the hand gestures I memorized last night, and bark out "Bunshin no Jutsu!" My cell is filled to the brim with insubstantial copies of me. The reactions on the faces of the student body police are priceless. Kuyou's is especially funny, his face contorts in both rage and surprise and he screams

"What?!" He starts to pace back and forth. "You seem to have no knowledge of what you've done, Tsukune. I am justice! I am what holds this academy together! So I hope you understand why it is I have to kill you." As he says that, I hear a door kicked in. and Naruto yells out

"Fat chance! We're taking him back with us!" Gin flashes in, in full werewolf mode, standing in front of my cage.

"You're gonna leave him alone." He growls. Yukari comes in with Kurumu and Moka at the other exit, and Naruto walks in hand in hand with Mizore, his other hand holding a Bō. At the staircase leading up to the abandoned dormitory they use as a jail. Everyone takes battle formations, and another Naruto appears behind Gin, with a lock pick set.

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_**Naruto: **_The pricks in the Student Police take up fighting stances against us, Our strategy relies heavily on Gin protecting Tsukune's Cell Door until a Shadow Clone of mine can pick the lock. The guys that challenge Mizore and I are big and burly, but she takes care of them with a little well placed ice under foot. They slip and slide forward until they're in striking range of my new friend, and when that happens I crack both of them across the face as hard as I possibly can. They're out cold in a few seconds, whereas Kurumu and Yukari's fight takes a bit longer. They're up against a spider woman, who spits webs to ensnare their victims, and before they finish their fight, my shadow clone finishes his task. Tsukune dives out of his cell, sprinting towards Moka. Before he can reach her, Kuyou blasts him with a huge ball of fire. He continues to stumble, doubtless from his new shinobi level endurance, and reaches Moka, removing the crucifix on her neck before finally losing consciousness. I hear Kurumu and Yukari both scream "Tsukune!" and a new version of Moka appraises me from a distance, then she crouches down down to look Tsukune, quickly giving us a prognosis.

"His wounds are likely fatal. Being that we cannot give him medical attention, I will have to make do with my blood." She lifts his limp body up, biting his neck, and seemingly injecting her blood into him, which, isn't a thing I knew vampires could do. Every single one of us moves in a protective circle around her, facing off with the leader of the Student Police. Kuyou, on his part, begins to laugh.

"I find it hysterical that you trash think you can outshine me!" He yells, and shifts into the form of a fox with four tails. As he does this, my necklace starts to float, and every body hits a battle formation.

'Wow, fur-ball was right. The Kitsune are a bunch of arrogant pricks.'

_Where the hell have you been?! _I scream in my head. Kuyou pulls in a lot of energy for a blast of flame.

'On a field trip! Shit, cover Mizore!' I dive in front of her just in time, getting hit and tripping her up a bit. We roll in the air, and the hit ends with me holding her tightly, bridal style, with most of my body burnt. I look at her. "Ow." I say. I can see tears on the verge of leaving her eyes.

"Idiot." She chides. I smile. Noticing Kuyou pulling in more energy.

"Hey, Mizore, would you mind breaking this seal? See, I'm supposed to make out with this girl later today, and before that I've gotta beat the shit out of this asshole."

"The other you told you to say that, didn't he?" Kuyou's almost done.

I look down at her and say "Yeah…" just as she snaps the cord on my necklace.

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_**Mizore:**_

I feel Naruto's necklace come off in my hand, just as Kuyou releases another gout of flame. I brace myself for the heat, but it never comes. When I look up from the flash of light that Kuyou's blast caused, I see something that takes me completely by surprise. Naruto's standing in front of all of us, his ears have lengthened and sharpened to a point, his hair has grown, and swinging behind him, is a tail of effervescent white fire. Kuyou's form shifts, he's no longer a fox, but an odd amalgamation of both fox and human. His grits his teeth.

"Ah, a fellow Kitsune. And of a lower level, too? Fine then. Bow to me, and then kill this trash." Kuyou turns around, and Naruto starts to laugh hysterically. Kuyou turns back. "Why have you not done as I asked, boy?"

"Oooh, Flaming guy with four tails. I am pissing my pants right now." He faux-shivers.

"You dare defy me?"

"I'll do more than that buddy. How does kicking your ass sound?" Kuyou throws a gout of flame straight at Naruto, who catches it with ease, adding to the fire and returning it to Kuyou.

It hits him square in the chest. Kuyou moves to get up, but Naruto is there in a flash, holding him down by his throat. He looks Kuyou directly in the eye and says. "Next time you get any big ideas about 'being justice' I want you to remember these words and what they did to you." I feel a chill reach the room, like an archaic force lost for a long time has just come back. Naruto starts to speak again. _"Out of the night that covers me, black as the pit from pole to pole…"_

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_**1uy0u:**_

The other fox demon, who refused to bow to me starts to speak – he gets halfway through what he's doing before I realize that he's using the lost art of incantation. If he can use this, then his one tail is multiplied in factor by ten. He is worth two and a half of me. He incants, and the world around me dissipates, along with the other member of my species. He is replaced, by a small, blonde, human child. We are in a run down apartment, that looks like it should be condemned. It is too late when I finally realize that the little boy facing me is actually the Kitsune from before. "Hi mister!" he says. "Oooh, you don't look so good. Well, that's okay. You're gonna look worse aftah this. See, tonight is Octobah tenf, my eiff birfday. Anko-nēsan was out on a misshun, and the villagahs were angry wif me. They brokeded into my apawtment, and then they did stuff. You'll see!" It takes a few moments, and by the time I work through his childish accent, He's making for the door, seemingly intangible.

"Where… Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna go get wamen." With that, he walks directly through the door, and it begins to slam, as if something's beating it in. A mob of angry men and women burst through, and one of them yells.

"Hold the demon down!" With my power, I should be easily stronger than all of these trash, but I struggle and struggle and it's no use. They've got too strong a grip. A few more of the humans approach me, wielding blades. And one of them says

"Now there's a law against killing you, freak, but there ain't nothin' sayin' we can't fuck you up right 'n' proper." With that, he stabs into my back with a dagger, dragging down all the way to my hips. This is just the first cut. By the time I am back in reality, I have felt the pain of dozens more. __

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_**Mizore:**_

Naruto finishes reciting _Invictus_, and leaves Kuyou writhing on the ground, screaming. Not long after, Kuyou's fire dissipates, and he returns to human form, still writhing and screaming. As Naruto Approaches, he looks at Moka. "How's the kid?" he says.

"Tsukune should be fine, given proper rest and time to heal." Naruto nods.

"Well, given that I just saved a dude's life, and ended the reign of a corrupt bunch of gangsters over the school populace, I'd say that staying free of my seal for the rest of the day wouldn't be too much to ask of the chairman. So, uh, how do I look like a human?" everyone laughs, including me, and I notice something. When Kuyou was near me in his monster form, I felt a terrible heat. One that I couldn't bear, really. When Naruto's in _his_ monster form, I don't feel heat at all. I feel a warmth about the room, one that replicates the sensation of being with a very good friend.

All in all, the past few days have been pretty good.

**A/N: 35 pages. 35. Pages. For those of you who think the kids went too far too fast, my response is **_**TEENAGED ROMANCE.**_** It always happens fast. It's the raging hormones, I think. I'm having a mite of trouble deciding where I should make Naruto go next, because in the manga, the Witches knoll arc has yet to happen, but it's already happened in the anime. I actually was considering excluding Naruto and Mizore from the Arc all together, but we'll see. **

**I have a goal of getting a chapter out at least once a month, but I head back to college tomorrow, so it might be slower with them hitting this length. I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing. **

**-**_**Dead!**_


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